An amazing ride

General Humberto Mariles led Mexico’s equestrian team to Olympic glory in 1948. The Mexican team defeated supposedly superior European competitors, earning two golds, a silver, and a bronze.

But the path to the Olympic medals twisted with adventure, and the failure to follow a president’s command.

General Mariles and his riding team, members of the Mexican Army, trained to perfection in their military gear.

In 1935, they won gold and bronze medals in the Central American and Caribbean Games. Mariles prepared the team for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but in the end Mexico didn’t send them. His team won blue ribbons in 1939 at Madison Square Garden in New York and in several contests in South America. Their success continued through the 1940s, until it was time to get ready for the London games.

In early January 1948, at the Club Hípico Frances in Mexico City, Mariles met a sorrel-colored, one-eyed horse named “Arete” (earring). From the first ride, Mariles fell in love with the beast.

The team planned to participate in competitions all over Europe leading up to the Games, but in February, President Miguel Alemán summoned the general, telling him:

“You know, general, the tour is cancelled.”

“May I know why, Mister President?”

“Because you can’t win with those cart pulling horses and that one-eyed stallion.”

“But Señor Presidente…”

“That will be all, general.”

All the travel arrangements had been made. The team had the money to go and had been accepted to all the European competitions. In bold defiance of the Commander in Chief, Mariles and his team traveled to Galveston, Texas, and from there sailed to Italy.

In Rome, the Mexican ambassador met Mariles and his riders with a warrant to arrest them for disobeying military orders, squandering public funds, desertion, and embezzlement. Still, Mariles refused to return to Mexico. He warned his riders: “You too may go to jail so let’s win.” Their future may have been saved when Pope Pius XII accepted Mariles’ invitation to come watch the Mexicans ride the day after they arrived. The team finished third in the Concorso Ippico Internazionale. News of the success appeared to tame the wrath of President Alemán.

At the London Olympics, the team surprised everyone by winning bronze in the three-day “eventing” contest. Rider Raúl Uriza grabbed silver at the Grand Prix of Nations, and Mariles, riding the one-eyed “Arete,” took the gold. The Mexicans also took gold in the team jumping event.

As the medalists celebrated at the Preston Manor hotel, someone rushed up to Mariles.

“Go to the phone, quick, el Señor Presidente wants to talk to you.”

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With information from the 1990 edition of Mexican Olympic Medalists, authored by Ramón Márquez and Armando Satow.