12
Annual Report 2012
HORSE SPORT IRELAND
London 2012 Olympic Games 28th July - 8th August 2012 - Show Jumping - Chef d'Equipe: Robert Splaine
Rider
Horse
Speed
Class
1st round
Nations'
Cup
2nd round
Nations'
Cup
1st round
Individual
Final
2nd round
Individual
Final
Ind. Total Jump Off
Final
Placing
1
Cian O'Connor Blue Loyd 12
0
8
12
0
1
1
4/46.64
3rd =
Bronze
2 Billy Twomey
Tinka's
Serenade
4
8
-
DNQ
DNQ
-
-
56th
Team Veterinarian: Marcus Swail
Cian O'Connor with his bronze medal on
the podium at the London 2012 Olympics.
Cian O'Connor in action at
the London Olympics.
There was great disappointment when Ireland failed
to qualify a Show Jumping team for the London 2012
Olympic Games. We had failed in our two attempts
at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and the 2011
European Championships. However, in March it was
confi rmed that Ireland had secured two individual
places thanks to the rankings of Billy Twomey and Denis
Lynch. Billy Twomey, with Ed and Sue Davies Tinka's
Serenade, and Cian O'Connor, with the O'Reilly-Hyland
family's Blue Loyd, were selected to fi ll the two places.
Following three qualifying rounds at London, Billy
Twomey fi nished 53rd while Cian O'Connor lay in
36th place, fi rst reserve for the 35 rider individual
fi nal. On the morning of the fi nal all 35 qualifi ed riders
were required to present their horse for a veterinary
inspection. Swedish rider Rolf-Göran Bengtsson
withdrew his horse Casall La Silla during the veterinary
inspection. Cian O'Connor and Blue Loyd were in the
fi nal and under Olympic Rules all riders would start
with zero penalties.
The combinations jumped in reverse order so the
Irish combination was required to jump early in the fi rst
round of the fi nal. They recorded one of only 6 clears to
set them up for the second and fi nal round. Once again
they left all the fences up but were just 0.02 seconds
over the time and so incurred a time fault which denied
them a jump off for the gold medal with Switzerland's
Steve Guerdat. Ultimately, their one fault total left
them in a jump off for silver with The Netherlands'
Gerco Schröder who jumped fi rst and recorded a fast
clear. Cian and Blue Loyd were well up on the time
but were unfortunate to knock the last fence. But
disappointment quickly turned to elation with the
realisation that Ireland had secured our fi rst Equestrian
Olympic medal since Equestrian sport was included in
the Olympics in 1912. A full table of the results is shown
below.
President Michael D. Higgins congratulated Cian
O'Connor, saying: "This is a great result for Cian and
indeed for Irish show jumping. He showed great skill
and determination all week and thoroughly deserves
this bronze medal."
Olympic Showjumping
London 2012 Olympics
HSI_Report_NEW DOCUMENT.indd 12
20/09/2013 15:36:06