SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa on Monday
received the Athens Olympic gold medal in the individual show
jumping event, nearly two months after Ireland's Cian O'Connor
decided not to appeal his disqualification in a doping case.
O'Connor won the event, but forfeited the medal when his horse,
Waterford Crystal, failed a drug test.
"It is a great honor to receive this medal in my country,"
Pessoa said at a ceremony held on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana
Beach. "I am happy for having conquered this medal for which I
worked so hard ... and I hope the medal will serve as an
inspiration to other Brazilian show jumpers."
The ceremony was presided over by Jacques Rogge, president of
the International Olympic Committee, and Carlos Arthur Nuzman,
president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee.
Because of O'Connor's disqualification, Chris Kappler of the
United States moved up to the silver medal and Marco Kutscher of
Germany got the bronze.