Juan Carlos Harriott

Harriott 1979

Juan Carlos Harriott (Jun) (born October 28, 1936 in Coronel Suárez, Argentina ) is a former Argentine polo player . Considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, he held his handicap of 10 between 1961 and 1980.

Life

Juan Carlos "Juancarlitos" Harriott is the eldest son of Juan Carlos Harriott (Sen) and his wife Elvira de Lusarreta. He has a sister and a younger brother, Alfredo (* 1945), also a polo player. Like hundreds of polo players, he grew up on an estancia, namely his family's farm in Coronel Suárez, just under 900 km from Buenos Aires in the south-west of the Pampas , and learned to ride at the same time as he was learning to walk.

His father and uncle were both successful polo players. His father, who reached a handicap of 9, won 8 Argentine Open and 8 Hurlingham Open , among numerous other tournaments. Both were also well-known horse breeders, which is useful in a sport where a player's success depends in large part on the quality of his horses.

Harriott's career as a polo player began when he played in 3rd position at the Copa República Argentina in the Coronel Suárez team in August 1953 . He was 17 years old at the time and had a handicap of +1. It was quite unusual for the least experienced player to occupy this important position, but it quickly became clear to viewers that they were witnessing a great debut. The tournament was won by a different team. Shortly thereafter, Juancarlitos was raised to a 3. In 1954 he began playing in high goal tournaments.

He won the Argentine Open for the first time in 1957, together with his father on the Coronel Suárez team. From then until 1979 this team won this tournament with Harriott Junior as captain of the team a total of 20 times, except in 1960, 1971 and 1973. In 1961 he got the 10 and was the first 10 goal in Argentina for 7 years. At his own request, he was downgraded to a 9 in 1981. His other successes include 4 Copa de Américas , numerous Hurlingham Open and countless other tournament wins.

His philosophy as a player was to always play at full speed, as if your team were one goal behind and the match would only last a minute. A reporter who saw him play described him as the "aristocrat of polo" because of his style and manners on and off the field. Like Adolfo Cambiaso today, it was said of Harriott that he actually played beyond any handicap compared to his contemporaries. In 1976 he received the Olimpia de Oro ("Golden Olimpia", an award given by Argentine sports journalists) as the only polo player to date and five Olimpia de Plata ("Silver Olimpia").

His best horse was "Burra", which he played for 11 years and was then used for breeding.

He is married to Susana Cavanagh and has two daughters, Marina and Lucrecia. He lives on his farm La Felisa in Coronel Suárez and worked as a horse breeder after retiring from polo.

successes

• Argentine Open (20): 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979.
• Tortugas Open (7): 1958 (with Hurlingham, together with his father), 1966 (as a player in Tortugas) and as a player in Coronel Suarez in 1968, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1977.
• Hurlingham Open (15): 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1977.
• Triple Corona (4): 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1977.
• Copa de las Américas (4): 1966, 1969, 1979, 1980.
• Copa Sesquicentenario (1): 1966

literature

• Horace A. Laffaye (Ed.): Profiles in polo - the players who changed the game. McFarland & Comp, Jefferson 2007, ISBN 978-0-7864-3702-3

Web links

• biography