DAMMAM: American billionaire and Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ daughter Jennifer Katharine Gates hit the headlines recently with news of her dating an Egyptian man named Nayel Nassar.

However, Nassar is not just another Arab guy as his resume boasts numerous international successes in his sporting career.

A professional equestrian, he has participated in several world championships and it is apparently horse riding that brought Nassar and Gates together.

The two have been spotted together on several occasions and Nassar was recently seen with the Gates family at the 12th edition of the International Jumping Monte Carlo, reported Le Parisien.

The French daily said Gates, 21, and Nassar, 26, were interested in each other.

Several photos posted on both Nassar and Gates’ social media accounts show that the relationship has been going on for months. A photo of the duo posted on Valentine’s Day by Nassar was captioned: “Lucky guy convincing this beauty to be my Valentine this year...”

Nassar studied management and economics at Stanford in California and graduated in 2013.

He is fluent in English, French, German and Arabic. He was born in Chicago, and lived in Kuwait with his parents before moving to California in 2009. He started riding at the age five.

In February, Nassar won the cup at the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Wellington as he finished the race in 38.15 seconds.

Nassar’s parents put him in a lot of sports as a kid: football, basketball, volleyball, and tennis, but riding was the one that stuck. “Once you catch the horse bug, it’s hard to kick it,” he once said.

In 2012, Nayal won the Artisan Farms Young Rider Grand Prix Series at the Winter Equestrian Festival. That same year, he qualified for the London Olympics as a reserve rider for Egypt.

In 2013, Nayel won the Zoetis $1 Million Grand Prix at HITS Saugerties in New York.

When Nayel is not winning World Cup qualifiers, he operates a small training and sales business near San Diego, California.

A Facebook page with his name has over 6,700 followers and regularly posts updates about his equestrian career.