Adolfo Cambiaso’s name has been engraved into polo’s hall of fame for two decades – the world number one, who has smashed every record going, and rewritten the rules of how high you can take the sport.
He is polo’s Pele or Messi; their Muhammad Ali, or Usain Bolt. Yet, unlike them, he has been at the very top of his sport for over two decades. And still he wants more.
“I’ve already made history,” he said, speaking to Argentine newspaper La Nacion shortly before his latest triumph. “But I always want more glory. Always.”
On Sunday he got it.
The 39-year-old captained his all-star team, La Dolfina, to a third Triple Crown victory – and, by winning for two consecutive years in a row, equalling a record that has not been matched for 40 years
“I couldn’t ask for any more,” he said, as he was presented his trophy at La Catedral – the huge polo ground in the centre of Buenos Aires, where 15,000 people gathered for polo’s equivalent of the Champion’s League final.
“It’s incredible. At the age of 39, to have played God knows how many matches (52 this season), and have lost only two. It’s crazy. The matches kept coming and the wins kept coming – I am so very happy.”
And Cambiaso’s ability to remain at the pinnacle of such a bruising, physical game for so long is indeed incredible.
Born into a polo playing family, he was on a pony before he could walk. Cambiaso’s father, also Adolfo, a lawyer who specialised in conveyancing farm sales – and is now a kitesurfing champion – was a keen player who achieved a four-goal status. His mother Martina de Estrada Lainez encouraged her son and his half brothers to play, and by the time he was 12, his handicap reached one goal. By the age of 15 he was playing in England, and at 16 he became the youngest ever to achieve the maximum ten-goal handicap.
The Prince of Wales (left) with Adolfo Cambiaso at Guards Polo Club, Windsor Great Park in July 2014 (Yui Mok/PA Wire)
“Intuition is what makes the best players,” he said earlier this season. “The best decisions are taken quickly and well. You can prepare yourself, have all aspects of the game thought through, but the one who shines on the pitch is the one with intuition.”
And for the crowds who gather to watch him, as well as those who play for or against him, his skill is akin to magic.
“I’ve seen players looking about like goldfish wondering where the ball has gone,” said Peter McCormack, a friend and the director of the London Polo Club.
It is not unheard of for Cambiaso to gallop at 40mph the entire 600ft length of a polo field, bouncing the ball on his mallet before swiping it into the goal.
“I’ve seen opposition players riding alongside him just watching what he’s doing – rather than tackling him like they should be,” said Mr McCormack,in an interview with The Telegraph in 2011.
Adolfo Cambiaso with his son Poroto, left, and his daughter Mia, right (ABACA USA/Empics Entertainment/PA)
Lolo Castagnola, a fellow Argentine 10-goaler, who is married to Cambiaso’s sister, said: “I practise something for three hours and he turns up and does it in a few minutes. I think he was born that way. It’s in his genes.”
Cambiaso’s skills have seen him play around the world – in England, the US, the Gulf. He has met the Queen, and mingled with sheikhs and stars.
But home is the town of Cañuelas, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where he was born and now runs a huge breeding and training operation. He has even turned La Dolfina into an all-encompassing lifestyle brand with clothing, holidays and even a polo estate for anyone wanting to really live the dream.
He generally shuns the limelight, and in a 2011 interview with the Financial Times said he did not know his own net worth – “I will never be a millionaire, and I don’t want to be,” he said, before appearing surprised when his representative confirms he is already one many times over.
“I am no David Beckham. I have not changed my life since I was 15 years old. My family is the only thing that has changed for me,”
In 2001 he married Argentine model Maria Vazquez, and the couple have three children – Mia, 12, nine-year-old Poroto and Myla, four.
