Humberto Mariles
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Mexico | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Men’s equestrian | ||
| Gold | 1948 London | Jumping, Individual |
| Gold | 1948 London | Jumping, Team |
| Bronze | 1948 London | Three-Day Event, Team |
Humberto Mariles Cortés (June 13, 1913 – December 7, 1972) was a Mexican show jumping champion, two times Olympic champion. He participated in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London where he won gold medals both in Individual Jumping and in Team Jumping, as a member of the Mexican winning team[1] aboard his Mexican-bred horse, Arete. Mariles Cortés made a bold move in the final jumping round, allowing his horse to jump into the water (and thus incur jumping faults) so that he would be appropriately balanced to clear the following jump, a large wall.[2] Due to this strategy, Arete was the only horse to jump this obstacle clean.
He also obtained a bronze medal in Three-Day Event, Team.
Mariles Cortés killed a man by gunshot in 1964, due to "road rage," and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[2] He served five of those years before being released, only to be arrested in 1972 after he was caught drug-trafficking in Paris. He died in his cell that same year, at the age of 59, but it is still unclear whether it was due to murder or suicide.[2]
References
- ↑ Profile: "Humberto Mariles" databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on January 9, 2008)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bryant, Jennifer O. Olympic Equestrian, A Century of International Horse Sport. Lexington, KY: Blood-Horse Publications, 2008
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