Rodrigo Pessoa became the youngest ever world show jumping champion yesterday when he took individual gold as a thrilling four-way change-horse final, played out in a sun-drenched Stadio Flaminio, brought the 1998 World Equestrian Games to a dramatic climax.
The Brazilian, who claimed the World Cup final in April, had the benefit of advice from his legendary father, Nelson, as he took on the might of defending champion Franke Sloothaak, Frenchman Thierry Pomel and Switzerland's Willi Melliger in the search for the gold medal that has eluded his father in more than 40 years of trying.
Mounted on their own horses, all four riders were faultless in their first tour of the track. But the picture changed rapidly when the quartet began switching horsepower. Thierry Pomel scored the only perfect zero of the second round when Melliger's magnificent Calvaro was clear, despite whipping round when his new pilot first got on board.
Each of the other three finalists made a single mistake, but Pessoa began his fight-back in the third round when coaxing the difficult French horse Thor des Chaines into leaving all the fences standing. Sloothaak and Melliger, riding each other's horses, had a rail down apiece, before Pomel was clear with Pessoa's gangly 11-year-old at the expense of half a time fault.
With just one round to go, the Frenchman was still ahead, but Pessoa's clear with Calvaro - to tumultuous applause from a by now near hysterical crowd - laid down a gauntlet that Pomel just couldn't pick up. Riding Sloothaak's horse San Patrignano Joly, Pomel was clear as far as the combination, but when a rail off the middle element thudded into the sand, Pessoa junior executed a triumphant war dance before enveloping his emotional father in a bear hug that threatened to smother him.
Pessoa senior had loaned Baloubet de Rouet to his son for his successful attack on the World Cup and finished 11th in the overall placings in Rome with the same horse. But his best result out of 10 attempts came in 1966 when he finished fourth in Buenos Aires, beaten by Frenchman Pierre d'Oriola. Rodrigo's victory in the Italian sunshine yesterday was sweet revenge as he pinned another French rider down in second place.
But Pomel, a former three-day event rider who was short-listed for the Moscow Olympics before defecting to show jumping in 1980, was still thrilled with silver, while Franke Sloothaak's final clear on Pessoa's horse clinched bronze for the German to leave no room on the podium for Willi Melliger.
Unfortunately, there was no place amongst the medallists for the Irish either, even though Trevor Coyle and Erik Holstein had both produced brilliant performances in Saturday's last-chance qualifier and came within a whisper of making it through to the last four.
Trevor Coyle and the stallion Cruising, with a mere quarter of a time fault in two rounds of jumping on Saturday, slotted into second behind Hungarian-born Joe Turi, to finish eighth in the world and miss a place in the final by less than a fence.
Erik Holstein also came desperately close, clear in both rounds on Ballaseyr Kalosha for just a single time fault. But the talented 25-year-old undoubtedly has a great future and to finish 10th among the world's best when riding in his first ever senior championship was a tribute to the help he has received from team-mate Peter Charles and his mother Gisela, herself an international dressage judge.
Out at the carriage driving, which finished in Pratoni on Saturday morning, a bad mistake at the first obstacle on the marathon course dropped Ireland's lone representative, Viscount Petersham, to 43rd, with an eventual 38th place finish even after four errors in the final cones phase.
The team gold went to the Dutch, who finished 11.64 penalties clear of Germany.
Individual (change horse final) - 1, Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, 4 faults; 2, France's Thierry Pomel, 5; 3, Germany's Franke Sloothaak, 8; 4, Switzerland's Willi Melliger, 12.
Individual (3rd leg from Saturday) - 1, Hungary's Epona Superville (Jozsef Turi), 0 penalties; 2, Ireland's Cruising (Trevor Coyle), 0.25; 3, Germany's PS Priamos (Ludger Beerbaum), 0.75; equal 4, Ireland's Ballaseyr Kalosha (Erik Holstein) and Brazil's Gandini Lianos (Rodrigo Pessoa); 6, Germany's San Patrignano Joly (Franke Sloothaak), 1.00; 14, Ireland's Traxdata T'Aime (Peter Charles), 11.25.
Carriage driving (individual) - 1, Switzerland's Werner Ulrich, 141.2 penalties; 2, Germany's Michael Freund, 142.12; 3, Holland's Ton Monhemius, 142.92; 38, Ireland's Viscount Petersham, 354.70.
