The Italian rider Raimondo D’Inzeo, and his older brother Piero, can rightly be counted among the Italian sporting legends. They were the sons of Costante, a cavalry marshal who trained young horsemen. He was considered an extraordinary instructor but sadly was killed in a motor vehicle accident when he was just 58.
Raimondo, like his brother, did not show great interest in horses until reaching adolescence. In the early 1940s Raimondo joined the military world as a Carabiniere and, after World War II, he served as an officer with the Savoia Cavalry department, and dedicated himself to horse racing and eventing competitions.
The D’Inzeo brothers were the first Olympians to compete in eight Olympic Games, a mark since equalled by only five Olympians, and later bettered only by Canadian horseman Ian Millar, with 10 through 2012, and Austrian sailor Hubert Raudaschl, who competed in nine. Raimondo D’Inzeo’s participation was continuous between 1948 and 1976. During that time he won six Olympic medals including an individual show jumping gold in 1960 at Rome when his brother won the silver medal. Raimondo’s other medals were silvers in 1956, in both the individual and team jumping event, and team bronzes in 1960, 1964, and 1972. In addition, D’Inzeo was the world individual jumping champion in both 1956 and 1960, and was a silver medallist in that event in 1955, and bronze medallist in 1966. He won eight International Grand Prix events between 1956-75. D’Inzeo was a career officer in the Italian cavalry and he always rode in military uniform. In the winter of 1966 he suffered personal tragedy when his only daughter Alessandra died following a skiing accident at Cortina d’Ampezzo. She was only 12-years-of-age at the time.
Italy