THE IRISH JUMPING team had strong aspirations to be on today’s podium at the incredible Château de Versailles equestrian venue as the Jumping Team Final got under way.
An experienced medalist from London 2012 and an on-form rider during his ‘coming of age’ era alongside a world top-10 Olympian, the three-man team were also insiders’ tip for at least a bronze.
And the trio, with their horses James Kann Cruz, Legacy and Maurice, were in the mix following an almost-but-not-quite faultless round one and a perfect round two.
However, it wasn’t to be and Cian O’Connor – aboard Maurice – incurred nine penalties on his go-around.
“It is a tough day,” he told The 42 after Great Britain secured gold and Ireland had slipped to seventh position.
“My horse was a little more alert than usual. It is a shame, he has been jumping fantastic all year. He just touched those two fences today.
“Listen, we jump at shows week in and week out. It is our job. Normally we pull off clear rounds and unfortunately, it didn’t go our way today. The Olympics is where we want to achieve.
All the riders and horses have worked very hard. It is tough, a tough competition. A big atmosphere there.
“We are dealing with horses, we are dealing with live animals. Once they come out happy, well and sound, that is a good day.”
The atmosphere was such that the French crowd were simultaneously cheering and shushing as their riders jumped the 14 obstacles (including 18 jumping efforts), six of which were over 1.6m high, designed to showcase the best of Paris.
If the riders and their horses took longer than 79 seconds to complete the course, they incurred another penalty.
It was that strict deadline that bumped O’Connor’s penalty count from eight to nine but Ireland was already out of contention after the two rails knocked by the legs of Maurice.
“He started off really well,” explained O’Connor. “One two, good. Pink oxer, jumped well. Double jumped well with the water ditches. The Eiffel Tower fence he took a little look, obviously a fence he had never seen before. The wall to the next he jumped good.”
It was the next jumping pass that caused the first difficulty, a triple bar that had been flagged in advance as a potential sticky point.
“It was eight strides short to the triple combination,” says O’Connor. “I thought I had good distance. Not too close, but he just looked at something. He didn’t give a really powerful jump, stayed a bit low.
“I probably lost my concentration a little bit and got a bit too close to the second double. You see some people rub it and they stay up. That is the game. That is the sport.”
Shane Sweetman, who competed in Tokyo 2020, will also be feeling the what-if question after his near-ideal turn around Chateau de Versailles transformed itself on the final hurdle. James Kann Cruz clipped it, the rail falling to the ground. To add to the hurt, it slowed the pair down to see the four turn to a five in the penalties column.
“Shane had a fantastic round and the horse jumped really well,” O’Connor said when asked about the unfortunate mistake.
He also heaped praise on 29-year-old debutante Daniel Coyle, whose clean and fast run will have eyes on him going into the individual competition next week.
“Unreal,” O’Connor, now 44, exclaimed with a smile. “Daniel has really come of age here. He has been to a couple of championships, he has really matured. He was outstanding both days. He rode it really, really well.”
Coyle, whose Klopp-like fist pump after his performance overjoyed the significant Irish crowd almost as much as his 76.72 time.
All six competitors now have two days rest before resetting for the individual events.
“Two days off is good for the horses because they have a chance to relax a little bit and recover,” O’Connor said. “Then we can get out heads in the zone for Monday or Tuesday.”
Instead of the green, white and gold of Ireland, the Union Jack, the star-spangled banner and the tricolore of the Fifth Republic were raised during the medal ceremony.
Great Britain took the gold after three spectacular runs with just a mere two time penalties between them.
The USA saw only two rails fall, both during Laura Kraut’s first round. And, in the end, the raucous side of the French crowd won out with their team fending off the Dutch to take the last piece of metal available. Their bronze medal heroics were witnessed not just by the 20,000-strong audience but also their prime minister, Emmanuel Macron.
