Ireland narrowly miss out on second Olympic show jumping spot

Denis Lynch appears to have failed by a narrow margin to secure a second Irish Olympic place.

By John Tynan

Show jumper Denis Lynch appears to have failed by a narrow margin to secure a second Olympic place for Ireland, according to data published yesterday on the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) website.

The FEI rankings showed that one show jumping place had been secured by Wexford rider Bertram Allen and his mare Molly Malone V after the 20-year-old rider topped Ireland’s geographical group, North Western Europe, after the qualification window closed at midnight on Sunday.

It is, however, the prerogative of Ireland manager Robert Splaine and Horse Sport Ireland as to who will travel to the Games.

Tipperary rider Lynch put himself in contention for one of four Olympic places on offer in the overall rankings with some very impressive results this year on All Star 5, but his bid faltered in Doha, Qatar, last weekend, leaving him on 1,092.50pts. That was just 11.5pts behind Egypt’s Karim Elzoghby, who took the last of the four places on 1,104pts, the FEI data showed.

The other three Olympic places were secured by Belgium (Gregory Wathelet and Jerome Guery) and Italy (Emanuele Gaudiano).

An FEI spokesperson last night said it was not ready to issue a statement confirming individual Olympic qualification.

“As soon as we have the final validation process completed, we'll get the release out,” said the spokesperson.”

It is thought this could be due to the fact the FEI was not in a position yesterday to confirm the individual places in dressage.

On Sunday, Ireland’s Judy Reynolds told the Irish Examiner she was confident she had done enough to win a place in Rio de Janeiro when breaking two of her Irish record scores with Vancouver K in Doha last weekend.

However, these came in a week of controversy when it was suggested judges in Moscow and Lier, Belgium, had favoured Russian and Ukrainian riders vying with her and others bidding for the six Olympic dressage places on offer in the overall rankings.

The FEI subsequently dismissed any suggestions of wrongdoing in Moscow, telling the Irish Examiner that "the FEI Dressage Committee informed the FEI secretary general they had concluded the judging was consistent across the five judges and in accordance with the FEI dressage rules and the principle of fairness as detailed in the FEI Olympic athletes ranking - dressage rules".

Ireland will also be represented at the Olympics by an eventing team, following a sixth-place finish at the 2014 World Equestrian Games (WEG).

The show jumpers narrowly missed out on securing an Olympic team place at WEG, and also did so in controversial circumstances at last year’s European Championships, when a steward ran in front of Cian O’Connor, who knocked the next fence when it seemed certain he would go clear to help the team book a ticket to Brazil.

A subsequent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was rejected.