Daniel BlumanOlympian

About Daniel Bluman

Daniel Bluman (born 15 March 1990 in Medellín, Colombia) is a Colombian-born Israeli showjumper, a three-time Olympian and one of the central figures in Israel's emergence as an Olympic jumping nation. He rode for Colombia at London 2012 and Rio 2016, switched sporting nationality to Israel at the end of 2016, and made his first Olympic start for Israel at Paris 2024, where his clear team-qualifying round with Ladriano Z helped Israel reach its first Olympic team jumping final and finish ninth. As at July 2026 he stands ninth on the Longines Rankings — his highest verified public position — and runs Bluman Equestrian, a family operation based in Wellington, Florida and North Salem, New York.

Raised in a Jewish family in Medellín, Bluman began riding at about three, encouraged by older cousins, and moved with his family to South Florida in 2000, giving him access to the Winter Equestrian Festival. At fourteen he won the 2004 FEI Children's International Jumping Final in California on the borrowed Holsteiner Lorin. He established a professional base in Wellington in 2007 and trained in Belgium with Nelson Pessoa. His breakthrough came in 2012, when he won the WEF Finale Grand Prix CSI5* with Sancha LS at twenty-two and finished equal twentieth at the London Olympics with the same mare — still his best individual Olympic result. For Colombia he added team tenth at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy and team silver at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games with Believe, jumping two clear rounds.

At the end of 2016 the FEI approved his change of sporting nationality to Israel, a decision he has linked publicly to his family history — his paternal grandfather survived three years in Auschwitz before emigrating to Colombia. With Ladriano Z, taken over from his cousin Ilan in 2017, he gave Israel its first World Championship jumping appearance at Tryon 2018, won three Hampton Classic Grands Prix across 2017, 2021 (with Gemma W) and 2023, and in 2019 became the first Israeli winner of the Rolex Grand Prix of Rome. That season he was also named L'Année Hippique Rider of the Year for 2018, and he anchored the Israeli team that won the Group C Olympic qualifier in Moscow in 2019, securing Israel's first Olympic equestrian team quota. He did not, however, start at Tokyo: with Ladriano injured, his intended mount Gemma W had been recorded under United States rather than Israeli horse nationality at the January 2021 deadline, and the FEI refused a retrospective correction, with an FEI Tribunal appeal dismissed under the applicable eligibility rules — an administrative registration dispute, not a sporting or welfare sanction.

Ladriano Z returned from a fourteen-month injury absence to carry Bluman to sixteenth at the 2022 World Championship in Herning — where he had entered the individual final in sixth place — and to win the Lexington World Cup qualifier that autumn. Bluman contested his first World Cup Final in Omaha in 2023, finishing nineteenth with Gemma W, won the Toronto World Cup qualifier that November, and again anchored Israel's successful Olympic qualification in Prague in 2023. At Paris 2024 he jumped clear in the team qualifier; in the team final Israel withdrew before his rotation once a medal was out of reach, classifying ninth, and he retired in the individual qualifier. Ladriano Z was retired from sport in October 2024 at sixteen. Bluman has spoken with unusual candour about his experience of childhood panic attacks and the professional psychological support behind his career, and with his wife Ariel he runs the Ride The Future programme connecting under-resourced young riders with established professionals.

As at mid-2026 Bluman has 2,186 FEI starts and 111 wins recorded since 1 January 2010, and a string led by three complementary horses: the grey mare Corbie V.V., winner of the 2025 Toronto MLSJ Grand Prix CSI5* and third in the 2026 Spruce Meadows Queen Elizabeth II Cup; the evergreen Gemma W, still winning at fifteen; and the supporting gelding Hummer Z. He and Corbie V.V. appear among Israel's nominated entries for the 2026 FEI World Jumping Championship in Aachen, though nomination is not final team selection. His senior record contains finals and qualification milestones rather than championship medals; a first senior medal remains the outstanding chapter in a career already distinctive for its cross-national breadth and long, patiently managed partnerships.