Daniel Bluman

Bluman is a native of Medellín, Colombia, and began riding at the age of three.[1] His grandfather moved to Colombia after being liberated from Auschwitz.[1] Bluman grew up attending Hebrew school and developed a strong attachment to Israel and its flag.[1] He moved with his family to the United States at age 10.[3]

In 2007, while still a teenager, he moved alone to Florida to train.[4] By 2013, he was already expressing an interest in representing Israel, although he questioned whether there would be enough time to qualify as an Israeli.[4]

Bluman became Colombia’s highest-ranked rider on the FEI Jumping Rankings in 2011 and represented the country at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.[1] In December 2016, he changed nationality to compete for Israel.[1] Reflecting on that decision, he said he had “always felt very close to Israel” and that, when offered the opportunity to help build a strong Israeli equestrian team, “I didn’t think twice about doing it.”[1]

By 2018, Bluman was Israel’s top-ranked rider and stood 38th in the world rankings.[1] His early-season victories that year included the $205,000 CSI4* NetJets Grand Prix in Wellington aboard Sancha LS and a $15,000 Turf Tour Grand Prix aboard Esmee.[1] He also won the $384,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix on Ladriano Z, defeating Olympic silver medalist Beat Mandli in a two-horse jump-off.[1]

His competition operation combined an established string of international horses with a continuing program for younger prospects.[1] In 2018, he kept approximately six horses in his main string for major international shows and maintained a year-round operation involving 20–25 young horses intended to strengthen that string as they developed.[1]

In 2019, Bluman won the CSIO 5* Grand Prix in Rome aboard Ladriano.[2] The victory brought the first playing of “Hatikva” for a rider at the Piazza di Siena.[2] That year, he was also part of the Israeli squad that secured Olympic qualification in Moscow, narrowly defeating Poland and qualifying Israel’s first Olympic equestrian show-jumping team.[5] Bluman called qualification the result of a project the team had worked on for years and said he believed Israel had a good opportunity to win its first Olympic medal in the sport.[6]

Although he had planned to represent Israel at the Tokyo Olympics, Bluman was unable to compete because of a horse-nationality registration issue involving his mare Gemma W.[7] In a 2021 interview, he said he had made aliyah five years earlier and described missing the Games as “the end of the game for me,” while also looking ahead to Paris.[8]

At the 2022 World Championships, Bluman and Ladriano Z stood sixth before the final, less than one obstacle behind the rider in second place.[9] The scheduled final began with 25 riders, with the top 12 advancing to a further decisive round; the sixth-place standing was his position entering the final, rather than his final championship result.[9]

Bluman was selected for Israel’s Paris 2024 squad with Ladriano Z after the Israeli quartet won gold and secured an Olympic team quota at a qualifying competition in Prague approximately 11 months before the Games.[10] Paris was his third Olympic appearance, following the two occasions on which he represented Colombia.[10]

In the Paris team qualification, Israel had accumulated 20 penalty points before Bluman rode a clear round aboard Ladriano Z.[3] His performance temporarily lifted the team to sixth; three subsequent teams overtook Israel, which finished ninth and advanced to the final.[3] After teammates Robin Muhr and Ashlee Bond incurred penalties in the final and Israel’s medal prospects had receded, Bluman withdrew from his appearance to conserve his strength for the individual competition.[11] Israel finished ninth in the team event.[11]

Bluman did not advance to the individual jumping final in Paris.[12] His qualifying round ended early when Ladriano refused an obstacle, and none of Israel’s individual competitors reached the final.[12]

Bluman’s achievements for Israel include the 2019 Rome Grand Prix victory[2] and participation in the country’s first successful Olympic team show-jumping qualification.[5] His clear round in Paris 2024 helped secure a place in the team final.[3]

Representing Israel has been a recurring theme in his public comments.[1][10] In 2018, he explained: “I grew up going to Hebrew school and the Israeli flag was always something that is very meaningful to me.”[1] Before the Paris individual competition, he said: “I love Israel and what it represents. It is a great honor for me to carry Israel’s flag wherever possible and to display it proudly.”[10]

Bluman’s exclusion from the Tokyo Olympics followed a dispute over Gemma W.’s registration with the FEI as American rather than Israeli.[7] He characterized the problem as a clerical error, sought to have the nationality change backdated, and said the experience left him feeling that his integrity had been challenged.[7] The FEI maintained that the horse-nationality deadline had been missed despite reminders and that its rules had to be applied consistently; the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his request for provisional relief on June 30, 2021.[7] Bluman later said the registration had been corrected, but too late for the Games.[8]