Adolfo Cambiaso facts for kids
Cambiaso in 2019
|
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Dolfi |
| Born | 15 April 1975 Cañuelas, Argentina |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Polo |
| Rank | One (10-goal handicap) |
| Team | La Dolfina Polo Team |
| Achievements and titles | |
| World finals | Abierto de Polo with La Ellerstina: 1994, 1997, 1998 with La Dolfina: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. |
| Highest world ranking | 2 |
Adolfo Cambiaso (born 15 April 1975) is a famous Argentine professional polo player. He has the highest possible rating in polo, a 10-goal handicap. Many people consider him the best polo player of all time!
Contents
Early Years in Polo
Adolfo's mom, Martina de Estrada Lainez, really wanted him and his half-brothers to play polo from a young age. By the time he was 12, he already had a 1-goal handicap. Just one year later, at 13, he won the Eduardo Heguy Cup with his team, La Martina. He even played alongside his father, who was also named Adolfo!
In 1989, when Adolfo was 14, his team San Diego won the Campaña del Desierto Cup. The next year, playing with La Martina again, he won the Renault Cup Open. This helped him get a 6-goal handicap, showing how quickly he was improving.
Professional Polo Career
Becoming a Star (1990-1994)
Adolfo traveled a lot to play polo in different countries like England and the US. He won 24 tournaments in Argentina, England, and the US during these years. He played for teams such as La Martina and Ellerstina. In 1994, he achieved something amazing: he won the "Triple Corona" with his team Ellerstina. This means he won the three biggest polo tournaments in Argentina: the Argentine Open, the Hurlingham Open, and the Tortugas Open. After this huge success, his handicap rating was raised to 10-goals. He was the youngest player ever to reach this top level!
More Wins and Awards (1995-1999)
In this period, Adolfo won 31 more tournaments with teams like La Martina, Ellerstina, White Birch, and Outback. He received the Olimpia de Plata award in 1997, which recognized him as the most important Argentine polo player of that year. He was also named the best player in the final of the Abierto Argentino in 1997. In the 1998 Abierto Argentino, he set a record by scoring 67 goals!
Starting La Dolfina (2000-2004)
Adolfo won 33 trophies during these five years. He decided to leave Ellerstina and start his own team, La Dolfina, with his friend Bartolomé Castagnola. This new team quickly became very successful, winning the Argentine Open in 2002. In England, he started playing for the Dubai team. With Dubai, he won the Cartier Queen's Cup three times and the Gold Cup twice, along with other tournaments.
Dominating the Game (2005-2008)
Adolfo's La Dolfina team continued to be very strong. They won the Argentine Open in 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2005, they beat Ellerstina with a score of 20–19, which was the highest score ever in an Argentine Open final! He kept playing well for Dubai in England and also became the captain for team Crab Orchard in the US. With Crab Orchard, he won the US Open and the USPA Gold Cup. The year 2008 was a bit tougher, as La Dolfina lost in the finals of the Argentine Open to Ellerstina.
Today's Achievements
Adolfo Cambiaso is still considered the best polo player in the world. He has played in the Argentine Open 15 times and won it 7 times, reaching the final two other times. He has scored an incredible 535 goals in the Argentine Open alone, breaking the previous record of 531 goals held by Bautista Heguy. Since 2002, he has also played for the Argentina national team, helping them win the Copa Quilmes.
Amazing Polo Horses
Adolfo has had many fantastic horses throughout his career. Some of his most famous ones include Lili, Ilusión, Sospechosa, La Osa, and his special favorite, Colibrí. Other well-known horses were Mambo, Bruma, and Dolfina Cuartetera. For the 2015 U.S. Open, his top horses were the mare Romana and the stallion Boeing, who was called the "American Pharoah" of the polo world because he was so good.
Cloning Polo Horses
When Adolfo was 25, he decided to start his own horse breeding business and create his team, La Dolfina. Today, he has almost 1000 horses on his large farms!
One of his best polo ponies was a famous stallion named Aiken Cura. This horse got a serious injury during the final of the 2006 Argentine Open. Sadly, despite efforts to help him, Aiken Cura had to be put down in January 2007. However, before that happened, Adolfo asked for some of the horse's skin cells to be saved, just in case cloning became possible.
Adolfo Cambiaso became a pioneer in horse cloning. He worked with a polo fan named Alan Meeker and a biologist, Dr. Adrian Mutto. In 2010, they successfully created the first clone. Adolfo then went on to clone his favorite 17-year-old mare, Cuartetera, many times. He even rode clones of Cuartetera to win the 2017 Argentine Open!
One clone of his horse Cuartetera was sold for $800,000 at an auction, making it the most expensive polo horse ever sold at that time. Now, they don't sell the clones themselves, only their foals (baby horses).
Personal Life
In 2001, Adolfo Cambiaso married María Vázquez, who used to be a model and a TV presenter in Argentina. They have three children: Mia (born 2002), Adolfo Jr (born 2005), and Myla (born 2010). Adolfo Jr was born during the Argentine Polo Open, and his dad actually left a game halfway through to be there for his birth!
Awards and Recognition
Adolfo has received many important awards. He won the Platinum Konex Award in both 2000 and 2010, recognizing him as the best polo player of each decade in Argentina. On June 24, 2012, Queen Elizabeth II gave Adolfo an award. This award praised his efforts to encourage gentle, violence-free training methods for horses in Argentina, following the ideas of famous horse trainer Monty Roberts.
See also
In Spanish: Adolfo Cambiaso para niños
Images for kids
-
Cambiaso at the International Polo Club, 2016, wearing his distinctive helmet colors of Argentina
