Brazil champ wants to ride for Greek team
Brazilian equestrian Olympic medalist Alvaro Affonso «Doda» de Miranda Neto, who married Greek billionairess Athina Onassis Saturday, wants to compete for Greece in the next Olympics, the equestrian federation in Athens has said. «Alvaro wants to be able to participate in the Olympic trials under the Greek colors and he is currently seeking a way to become a naturalized Greek,» the federation’s president, Georges Dendrinos, told AFP. Dendrinos said that Olympic champions were «considered as a special category» and could usually be naturalized easily. Doda, 32, married Athina Roussel Onassis, 20, the only heir to the estimated $3 billion fortune of her late grandfather and Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, on Saturday in a Sao Paulo mansion under heavy security to deter onlookers and paparazzi. He is a bronze medalist from the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the son of one of Brazil’s top industrialists. The couple met two years ago in Belgium where Athina was taking riding classes from a Brazilian expert. Earlier this year, she signed with the Avlona Equestrian Club near Athens in a bid to ride for the Greek equestrian team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (AFP)
