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 Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

rider. He was married to

Athina Onassis Athina Hélène Onassis (; born Athina Hélène Roussel (), 29 January 1985) is a French-Greek heiress and equestrian, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and the only child of Aristotle's daughter Chris ...

. 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 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. 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, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

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 explanation, interpretatio ...

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

at Nelson Pessoa'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 A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

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

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, then left school 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 because he has been doing what he loves. At that time, his sponsors (including

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

) 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Games, he rode "Aspen Joter," a

stallion A stallion is an adult 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, "cre ...

who was born in 1985. He partnered himself with "Countdown" (b. 1992) for Brazil at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and again at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. He also participated at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games, officially the XIV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santo Domingo 2003, were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the Games was made in the mid-1990 ...

. 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 Équestre Internationale (FEI). The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive S ...

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

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

grand prix of the

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

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ) 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 and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It is also Qatar's ...

, 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 ( ) 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 (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. 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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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 (; ) 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, Saint-Am ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. 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 , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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

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

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

gelding A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...

Holsteiner The Holsteiner is a horse breed 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 domin ...

, 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. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

); *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, 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 Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; , ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975) was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was marri ...

), 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. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...

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 is famous for its Juno Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of popular songs ...

'' 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. In September 2018, he married Denize Severo, with whom he has two children: Dodinha and Giulia Severo de Miranda.

References

External links