Triple Crown of Bridge

As of 2008, only ten players have collected The Triple Crown of Contract Bridge, that is won all of the three most important tournaments in bridge, the Bermuda Bowl, the World Team Olympiad and the World Open Pairs Championship. The ten winners are:

Name Bermuda Bowl Olympiad World Pairs
Pierre Jaïs 1956 1960 1962
Roger Trézel 1956 1960 1962
Bob Hamman 1970 1988 1974
Bobby Wolff 1970 1988 1974
Jeff Meckstroth 1981 1988 1986
Eric Rodwell 1981 1988 1986
Marcelo Branco 1989 1976 1978
Gabriel Chagas 1989 1976 1990
Fulvio Fantoni 2005 2004 2002
Claudio Nunes 2005 2004 2002

The year in bold is the year in which each player won the concluding of his three titles.

As the World Team Olympiad and the World Open Pairs Championship alternate in subsequent even-numbered years, whilst the Bermuda Bowl is held in the odd-numbered years, in theory it is possible to win the three triple crown events in a timespan of no more than three years. So far, no bridge player has accomplished this feat. Closest came Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes who won the three events in a timespan of four years. As defending champions they ended third in the 2006 World Open Pairs Championship, the closest any partnership ever got in defending their title in this event. A win would have secured them a 'three-year' triple crown.

Famous quotes containing the words triple, crown and/or bridge:

    “The triple pillar of the world transformed
    Into a strumpet’s fool.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “‘Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball,
    The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
    The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
    ...
    Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
    Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave
    Who with a body filled and vacant mind
    Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “I was at work that morning. Someone came riding like mad
    Over the bridge and up the road—Farmer Rouf’s little lad.
    Bareback he rode; he had no hat; he hardly stopped to say,
    “Morgan’s men are coming, Frau, they’re galloping on this way.”
    —Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894)