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She's a modern-day Greek princess. He's an Olympic medal winner. The gods themselves may attend today's nuptials of Athina Onassis Roussel and Alvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto in Brazil.
The bride, granddaughter of Aristotle Onassis and sole heir to his fortune, is six weeks shy of 21. He's 12 years older.
The groom, called Doda, is the playboy son of an insurance-firm owner, a professional equestrian and the winner of bronze medals with the Brazilian show-jumping team at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. They met at a Belgian riding center in 2002.
While a pantheon of South American and European rich and powerful will be on hand for the wedding today in the gardens of an art museum in Sao Paulo, the 750 guests may need an oracle to divine the program.
Details are being guarded like state secrets. Contractors have had to sign privacy agreements. Even the groom's dad doesn't know the honeymoon plans.
"If I did know, I wouldn't say," Ricardo Miranda said. "They need their privacy, at least for the honeymoon, don't they?"
Father of the bride Thierry Roussel will give his daughter away despite her having defeated him in a battle for control of her inheritance of just under $1 billion - and growing.
She owns one-third of the Onassis empire, including shares in U.S. oil firms, factories, an airline, 87 businesses in 13 countries and cash deposits in more than 200 banks.
With Post Wire Services
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