Rodolpho Riskalla – profile

Rodolpho Riskalla (b. 1984) is a Grade IV Paralympian from Brazil. He was aiming to represent his country on home turf at the 2016 Rio Olympics in dressage, but Rodolpho contracted bacterial meningitis in late 2015.

Consequently, he had both legs amputated below the knee as well as a hand and multiple fingers. And yet, he continued to compete in Rio at the Paralympics just a few months after – achieving two top-10 results in Grade III. He received FEI’s Against All Odds award for his astonishing will and performance.

Rodolpho moved to Paris to be closer to the European dressage scene and further his skills, and he now works as the collections manager at Christian Dior. Dior also sponsors Rodolpho, and you can peek at the world-famous fashion house’s name embroidered on Rodolpho’s competition pads.

He cemented his position as one of the sport’s rising stars when he secured two silver medals at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Rodolpho won yet another silver medal, now in Grade IV.