Guenter Seidel, born in Fischen im Allgäu, Bayern, Germany , is an openly gay athlete. In 1998 at the World Equestrian Games, Guenter was a member of the fourth place USET squad and he finished ninth individually in the World Dressage Championships. Guenter's international victories started early; in 1999 at the World Cup, he placed ninth place riding Foltaire.
In the year 2000, he qualified for the Sydney Olympic Games by placing second on in the State Line Tack/USET Dressage Championship and continued to the Olympics in Sydney, Australia, to help the U.S. win its third consecutive Olympic team Bronze Medal Riding Nikolaus 7.
In 2001, he won the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle as well as the Best Horse and Rider award at CDI Fritzens (Austria).
In 2002 he had a sixth place finish in the World Cup and won the Team Silver medal at FEI World Equestrian Games in Spain. He was also awarded the Whitney Stone Cup by the United States Equestrian Team (USET) in the same year and was awarded the prestigious honor as the individual who had achieved a most distinguished record in international competition while also serving as an ambassador for the USET and equestrian sports.
Seidel was part of the dressage squad that made history at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, by winning the team Silver Medal. That finish marked the best finish ever for a United States dressage team in any World Championship or Olympic Games.
Guenter Seidel won the U.S. Grand Prix Freestyle Dressage Championship/U.S. League Final with an impressive score of 77.650% in the freestyle. Seidel's win gave him the right to represent the U.S. at the 2003 Dressage World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden, March 27 - 30.
In 2004 he had a sixth place finish at The World Cup for the U.S. and helped the U. S. team win a Bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
In 2006, as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team, he helped win a Bronze medal for the United States at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen Germany and was the highest scoring American rider on the first day of competition.
