Álvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto (born 5 February 1973), more commonly known as Álvaro de Miranda or "Doda" Miranda, is an Olympic-class Brazilian show jumping rider. He was married to Athina Onassis. He is president of the organizing committee behind the Athina Onassis International Horse Show, which debuted in 2007 as the fifth stage of the

Global Champions Tour The Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) is an annual pre-eminent individual show jumping series that comprises up to 15 rounds of competition hosted around the world. It brings together the top 30 riders in the FEI Jumping World Rankings. It was ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. In 2008, the AOIHS-São Paulo event was the final phase of the tour. For the tour in 2009, the host city of the AOIHS was

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

Early life and family

Miranda is the son of businessman Ricardo Miranda and his first wife,

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...

Elizabeth "Beth" Pires de Castro Miranda. Doda grew up in Brazil with full siblings Anna Luiza and Paulo Fernando from his father's first marriage and half-siblings Beatriz and Ricardo from his second. In 1983, while he was still very young, he began training for competitive show jumping at

Nelson Pessoa Nelson Pessoa Filho (born December 16, 1935) is a Brazilian equestrian who competed in the sport of Show jumping. He was among the first Brazilian civilians to do well in the sport, as the military had dominated it in the Brazil of that er ...

's prestigious riding school in Belgium.Juliana Lope
O cavaleiro e a herdeira de US$ 5 bilhões
(Portuguese) ''Istoe Gente'' 10 February 2003 Miranda has a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanc ...

degree from Rio Branco College. He studied for one year at a university in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He left school after one year of study to devote himself fully to his sport. He told ''Isto é Gente'' (a Brazilian magazine) in February 2003 that his mother was disappointed with this decision at first, but now he has no regrets at first because he has been doing what he loves. At that time, his sponsors (including Visa and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The o ...

) paid for his horses.

Career

Miranda is a four-time Olympic rider and two-time Olympic medalist. His Brazilian team won bronze medals at the 2000 Summer and 1996 Summer Olympic Games. At both the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

and Sydney Games, he rode "Aspen Joter," a

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

who was born in 1985. He partnered himself with "Countdown" (b. 1992) for

Brazil at the 2004 Summer Olympics Brazil competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, excluding the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Brazilian Olympic Committee ( pt, ...

, and again at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He also participated at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

. He is a FEI-class, grand-prix level rider. Every year since 1998, he has competed in the

FEI World Equestrian Games The FEI World Equestrian Games are the major international championships for equestrianism, and are administered by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive ...

.Alvaro Alfonso de Miranda Neto, Competition Results
Horse Planet In June 2009, Miranda ranked #2 in the

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino i ...

grand prix of the

. He ranked 18th, with 32 points, leading into the GCT final in

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the cou ...

, in November 2009. His performance in Doha ( 11–14 November 2009) was unremarkable at first, but he gained third place in the final, an event with a purse of €300,000. In November 2009, Miranda (on AD Picolien Zeldenrust) was the third-place winner of the Global Champions Tour final in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...

. He actually had the fastest time, but his penalty placed him behind Michel Robert (first place) and Jos Lansink (second place). In December 2009, Miranda (riding AD Peanuts) won the ''Salon du Cheval – Ceneca Trophy'' at the Gucci Masters in Villepinte, just north of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

Horses

With his ex-wife, Athina Onassis de Miranda, he owns the AD Sport Horses company, which breeds and trains horses and is based at ''Haras de Ligny'', the compound owned by the father-son team of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and Rodrigo Pessoa in

Fleurus Fleurus (; wa, Fleuru) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles. The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. In December 2009, at the Gucci Masters, Miranda confirmed that the company was moving to his and his wife's new property in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

early in 2010. List of horses *AD Picolien Zeldenrust (b. 1997,

Dutch Warmblood A Dutch Warmblood is a warmblood type of horse registered with the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands (KWPN), which governs the breeding of competitive dressage and show jumping horses ...

chestnut mare); *AD Chatwin (b. 1993, bay

gelding A gelding is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven horse behavior, behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer a ...

Holsteiner The Holsteiner is a breed of horse originating in the Schleswig-Holstein region of northern Germany. It is thought to be the oldest of warmblood breeds, tracing back to the 13th century. Though the population is not large, Holsteiners are a ...

, retired after leg injury in July 2008); *AD Ornella (b. 1999, sold in December 2009 to Hernan Crespo via

Jan Tops Johannes Augustinus Petrus "Jan" Tops (born 5 April 1961) is an equestrian from the Netherlands, who won the gold medal in the team jumping event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain riding Top Gun. He did so alongside Pie ...

); *AD Norson (b. 2001,

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

); *AD Como II (b. 1997, bay gelding, Holsteiner); *AD Peanuts (b. 1994, chestnut mare); *AD Untouchable (b. 2001, grey stallion); *AD Ashleigh Drossel Dan (b. 1998 grey gelding, Hannoverian)Australian bred.

Personal life

His first relationship with

Cibele Dorsa Cibele Dorsa (October 14, 1974 – March 26, 2011) was a Brazilian actress, model and writer. She also appeared on the cover of the April 2008 issue of '' Playboy Brazil''. Personal life Dorsa had a relationship with Brazilian entrepreneur Fernan ...

, a fashion model, produced daughter Viviane on 1 January 2000. Cibele Dorsa had a son, Fernando Dorsa Oliva, from a previous relationship. In December 2005, he married Athina Hélène Roussel (granddaughter of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis), who legally changed her name to Athina Onassis de Miranda the following year. Miranda's longtime friend and fellow jumping rider Rodrigo Pessoa served as

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be s ...

at the wedding.Michelle Gree
Onassis Heiress Weds
''People'' Magazine, Vol. 64, No. 25, 19 December 2005 Cibele Dorsa committed suicide on 26 March 2011 at 36. Her suicide-note publication in Brazil's gossip magazine ''

Caras The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It administers the Juno Awards, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the MusiCounts music education cha ...

'' was forbidden by Miranda's attorneys due to mentions relating him to Dorsa's suicide. His marriage to Athina Onassis ended in 2016, following a legal separation. By the beginning of 2018, their divorce was finalized.

References

External links