FEI Gandini World Jumping Riders Rankings

1998 World Champion in Rome, winner of three consecutive World Cup Finals, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Team bronze medallist, 2003 Top Ten Final winner, Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, 31, is one of the stars of show Jumping. He is now leading the FEI Gandini World Riders Rankings with 2727 points, ahead of Ludger Beerbaum (2624) and Marcus Ehning (2234). Pessoa collected 260 points for his individual performance in Athens, as well as 100 additional points in the Team competition, where he went clear in the first round.

Rodrigos first great jumping year was in 1992 when, at the age of 19, he was the youngest rider to take part in the Olympic Games at Barcelona, finishing 9th in the individual competition. His horse, Baloubet du Rouet, with whom he started competing in 1999, is a French stallion born in 1989 by illustrious Galoubet A and Mesange du Rouet. Based in Belgium, Rodrigo is the son of Brazilian show jumping legend Nelson (Neco) Pessoa who has been the trainer of the Brazilian National Team for many years and along whom he competed at the 1992 Olympic Games of Barcelona.

Rodrigo Pessoa was the World Rankings leader during 14 months from November 1999 to December 2000.

Team Olympic Champion Ludger Beerbaum (GER), is the runner up. He was one of the four double clears of the Team competition of the Olympic Games, along with Rolf Göran Bengtsson (SWE), Beezie Madden (USA) and team mate Marco Kutscher (GER). In addition, Beerbaum earned 130 points by winning the Grand Prix of Valkenswaard in early August.

Previous World Number One, 30-year-old Markus Ehning, (GER) goes down to third place. He had to withdraw from the Olympic Games, further to a ligament injury of his horse, the 18-year-old For Pleasure, who was among the favourite for Athens, after having won twice the Olympic team gold for Germany, with Lars Nieberg in Atlanta and with Ehning in Sydney.

Olympic Team silver medallist Beezie Madden (USA) is now 4th of the World Rankings (she was ranked 8th at the end of July).

Marco Kutscher, who replaced Ehning on the German Olympic Team, enters the Top Ten and goes up from 13th to 9th rank, further to his double clear in the Olympic Team competition and his fourth place in the Individual Final.

Gold Medallist Cian O'Connor (IRL) jumps up from 57th to 36th place.