O'Connor takes gold

Cian O’Connor crowned a superb Olympic debut tonight by clinching the Ireland’s first gold medal of the Athens Olympics with victory in the individual show jumping final.

The 25-year-old from Kildare, who only carried over four penalty points from his first round, produced a flawless final round on Waterford Crystal to claim the top prize.

O’Connor’s triumph came as Jessica Kuerten had a disastrous second round, clocking up 20 penalty points, having had a flawles first round. The other Irish competitor, Kevin Babington, finished joint fifth.

British competitor Nick Skelton’s hopes of Athens glory were ended by a disastrous final round.

Skelton’s bid to win Great Britain’s first Olympic individual show jumping medal since 1972 foundered despite the fact the 46-year-old went into the final round with no penalties after a faultless first round.

A jump-off was needed to decide the silver and bronze medal winners after Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa and American Chris Kappler were tied on eight penalties.

Pessoa, who picked up four penalty points in the jump-off, took silver after Kappler's horse pulled up lame.