Fortune favours proud O’Connor

“This means everything to me. This bronze medal is worth much more than the gold I won in Athens,” said Cian O’Connor last night after his stunning performance in London yesterday with Blue Loyd.

A mere two-hundredths of a second denied the Dublin-born rider a chance of replicating his 2004 gold medal-winning performance, while an injudiciously-fast approach to the last in a jump-off saw him give up silver.

But the smile on the face of the 32-year-old showed the bronze medal was just as precious as any of its more illustrious equivalents.

Seven years have passed since he was stripped of the gold he won in Athens with Waterford Crystal, but while the memory has dimmed for the public, O’Connor knows he still has his detractors.

“I have never said we did not make mistakes, but we have moved on and the governing body have made the rules more clear for the vets and have good structures in place to ensure that sort of thing will not happen again. I hope this will give the people at home a well needed boost and help the sport from grassroots level up,” he said, complementing manager Robert Splaine, his mentor Gerry Mullins and owners Blue Loyd’s owners, the O’Reilly-Hylands: “There are so many people who have a piece of this medal.”

Nobody would argue that O’Connor is the best show jumper in the world or even Ireland or that he has better horses. The reason he stood on the podium yesterday was down mainly to determination.

There was luck involved too; it was a fantasy and, as with O’Connor, one that was as drama-filled as any novel.

The first chapter saw the rider installed by Horse Sport Ireland instead of Denis Lynch, after the Tipperary rider’s horse was disqualified at the nations cup show in Germany.

Chapter two saw Lynch launch an appeal, which was dismissed.

Thus, the scene was set for O’Connor to redeem himself, but firstly he had five rounds of jumping at the highest level on a horse many would have said was not good enough to earn O’Connor a place in London.

Notably, this was due to the fact he has only been riding Blue Loyd since November and had highs and some lows in the first six months of this year. Clear rounds in the nations cup in Aachen and Rotterdam convinced manager Splaine.

Day one saw him answer his detractors with a clear, but doubts were raised again when subsequent round saw the pair put up 20 faults.

It seemed fate was conspiring to keep O’Connor away from the medals, but he was not giving up the fight, pointing out on Monday he was first reserve, should misfortune fall any other rider. Yesterday, he was rewarded when Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson’s horse Casall was withdrawn.

Game on, as all riders reverted to a zero score.

Round one, and, amazingly, the pair jumped one of just six clears from 37 of the world’s best riders and O’Connor reacted like he already had the medal.

It meant a place in the afternoon’s second round with 21 rivals. Six on clean sheets and three on one time fault, meant the destination of the medals was wide open, however.

O’Connor, though, knew that, regardless of the others, he needed another clear and Blue Loyd obliged, but it came at a high price, having crossed the line two-hundredths of a second over the time allowed, to join the Netherlands’ Gerco Schroder and the appropriately named London on a single fault.

With five riders remaining, the odds were that at least one would produce a clear and up stepped Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat on Nino des Buissonnets for a display worthy of a gold medal. The remainder, including hot favourite Nick Skelton, found the going too tough.

Thus, it was the turn of O’Connor and Schroder to go head-to-head.

The Meath-based Dubliner had the advantage in seeing the Dutchman go first... and clear. But with nothing to lose, O’Connor threw caution to the wind and asked Blue Loyd to show his true value. The gelding responded and O’Connor’s approach was paying off, but there remained a sting in the tail, and an unnecessary gallop to the last fence ended his bid.

No silver, but bronze was more than O’Connor could ever have wished for.

“I have no regrets about losing out on a jump-off for gold. I would have accepted bronze coming into this and you have to try and balance between going clear or making the time and I would take the former every time.

“As for the silver, I never went against the clock like that before with Loyd and I knew Gerco had won grands prix, so I did not know how fast I had to go. I was disappointed for a second when I knew I hadn’t won the silver, but winning bronze is still brilliant and I was over the moon. I always believed in myself.” “It’s a proud day for me.”