Athina Onassis introduced her business partner Jan Tops to Greek equestrian sport and to Greece in 2007, during the International Equestrian Games held in the country that year. People in the sport have said the event marked a milestone following the 2004 Olympic Games.
The competition took place at the Olympic Equestrian Centre and included a five-star international event held under the aegis of the Hellenic Equestrian Federation, in memory of Onassis's mother, Christina Onassis. Staged in September 2007, it was the final competition of the 2007 season in Jan Tops's Global Champions Tour series, a five-star level circuit.
In a speech at the time, with her then-husband Alvaro "Doda" de Miranda Neto at her side, Onassis praised her collaboration with Tops, saying the Global Champions Tour had raised equestrian sport to a higher level worldwide.
Three competitions held under Onassis's aegis
From September 28 to 30, 2007, the international "Athens CSI3" competition took place for the first time, with numerous Greek and foreign riders taking part. From October 4 to 7, the "Athens CSI5" followed, the highest-level competition in the world within the Global Champions Tour World Cup series, organized by Tops and held in Greece for the first time.
Olympic, World and European champions competed in that event. Organizers announced that the Grand Prix, the CSI5's main event, would be dedicated to the memory of Christina Onassis and broadcast live by Eurosport. From October 11 to 14, the "Athens CSI04*-W" World Cup competition followed, an event that has since become a fixture on the international equestrian calendar and was held for the fourteenth time that year.
Onassis's tribute to the Global Champions Tour
In her welcome address, Onassis said it was a great honor to present the Global Champions Tour in Athens for 2007. She said horses had for centuries helped people cross borders and travel to new horizons, and that the previous year's tour had proven to be a new horizon for equestrian sport. She said the unique collaboration between some of the world's top competitions had raised the sport to a higher level.
She said that from March 2007, eight separate competitions on three continents would welcome the best riders to their facilities, where they would find the best conditions. She said equestrian sport symbolized respect and friendship and offered a valuable training path, and that she was confident the tour would make the dreams and ambitions of many young people around the world come true. She wished the Global Champions Tour and its members success in what she called a lasting equestrian shift.
Doda's citizenship request refused
During the Games, Onassis asked officials to grant Greek citizenship to Doda, whom she supported at every step and who appeared alongside her at the competitions and related events in Greece. The couple, reported at the time to be very happy together, had met in Belgium at the academy of the Brazilian show jumper Nelson Pessoa.
The request stemmed from equestrian regulations requiring athletes to belong to a sports club so they can compete anywhere in the world; the relevant federation, in this case the Greek one, would then notify organizers abroad of the athlete's participation.
The request was denied, upsetting Onassis, who was reported at the time to have watched the competitions from the highest and most remote seats at the Markopoulo facilities, both to recover from the refusal and to avoid contact with journalists covering the events.
The refusal, combined with her decision not to meet with Greek and foreign press covering the Games, led her to skip a large reception held at a luxury hotel complex in Athens's southern suburbs. The episode drew comment at the time and was reported in the following days by sports newspapers and society columns in Greece and abroad.
Tops's career and the current legal dispute
Jan Tops is one of the most prominent figures in international equestrian sport. The Dutch rider won Olympic gold in 1992 and became known both as a leading show jumper and as a businessman, horse breeder and creator of the Longines Global Champions Tour, a series many describe as the "Formula 1" of equestrian sport.
Tops met Onassis shortly before the 2004 Athens Olympics, when he began helping her develop as a competitor. Their collaboration became one of the most important of her career, and Tops is regarded as having played a decisive role in establishing her at the top level of international equestrian sport.
The two maintained a close professional relationship for more than 20 years. Onassis competed in Global Champions Tour events for years and spoke publicly on several occasions with warm words about Tops, calling him a key figure in her equestrian career.
Recently, however, their relationship has entered a new phase. The two sides are now involved in a legal dispute centered on the end of their long-term collaboration and the financial claims that arose from it. According to reports, the dispute concerns only their professional relationship, not any personal ties.
