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Luiza Tavares de Almeida joins Brazil’s Olympic dressage team for Hong Kong and consolidates Lusitano recognition as world-class competitors

São Paulo, May 9, 2008: – Brazilian dressage reached new heights in São Paulo today during the CDI 3* Grand Prix, a final qualifier for the Olympic Games, when Luiza Tavares de Almeida achieved a second 64+% test (64.66%) with pure-bred Lusitano, Samba (Inca). “I was definitely feeling the pressure today because I know it’s much harder to achieve 64% in Europe, so I was telling myself ‘I have to do it, I have to do it.’ I was very nervous during the warm-up, but I knew there was no way out …!”

In contrast, Almeida’s fellow countryman, Rogério “Roger” Clementino, who has already qualified for Hong Kong with Nilo VO, owned by Victor Oliva, was able to relax and enjoy the occasion, and generously admitted it was my  “happiest ever defeat” as he celebrated the runners-up position (64.12%) saying, “Although Leandro (Silva) and Luciano (Pereira) were unable to make the marks, it’s important that Brazil will be so well represented in Hong Kong.”

Commenting on a couple of hesitant moments during her test, Almeida agreed that it was a combination of nerves from both herself and the horse: “He was a little bit tense on the flys [flying changes] and piaffe, but otherwise he did good work. I am really happy now, of course, but need to keep on working towards the Olympics.”

Prior to her test, the ever-modest Clementino told Almeida simply to “Be calm, be cool and trust God and everything will be okay.” And later … “I am so happy for Luiza. The most important thing now is to celebrate the result here then prepare for the trip to Hong Kong.”

Needless to say, it was an extremely emotional time for Almeida’s parents, Manuel and Thereza, who have fervently supported her dressage ambitions and anxiously awaited the result. In fact, the resulting celebration was a little bittersweet because Luiza’s older sister Thaiza was also competing and marginally failed to achieve the 64% goal riding another pure-bred Lusitano, Rio Pele (Hostil), an extremely talented maternal grandson of John Whitaker’s former top-class showjumper and world-renowned stallion, Novilheiro. Thaiza will now travel to Europe with her sister, Clementino and their horses later this month in order to compete and continue her quest to qualify for Hong Kong before the June deadline.

Alongside Clementino’s own remarkable success story, Luiza Almeida can now look forward to rewriting the history books in Hong Kong becoming the youngest ever equestrian competitor (16). Until now, this distinction has been held by Canada’s Christilot Hanson-Boylen, who competed in Tokyo 1964 at the age of 17, and a Columbian dressage rider (unconfirmed) who competed in Seoul 1988. Tavares’s fellow countryman, Rodrigo Pessoa, currently holds the record as the youngest ever Olympic showjumping competitor at the age of 19.

The judges for this test were: Bernard Maurel (FRA), Elizabeth McMullen (CAN), Gary Rockwell (USA), Claudia Moreira de Mesquita (BRA), and Salim Nigri (BRA). Although there was no disputing Tavares’s marks, (the three foreign judges awarding more than the required 64%), her first place was not unaninmous, with both Brazilian judges still favouring Clementino.

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