Name: Cian O'Connor
Event: Equestrian - Show jumping
Age: 44
Cian O'Connor has competed at three Olympic Games previously, taking a bronze at London in 2012, which is Ireland's only equestrian medal to date.
He thought he had gold at Athens in 2004 but his horse Waterford Crystal later failed a drugs test. It meant he was stripped of the medal.
O'Connor will be aboard Maurice during the 2024 Games.
O'Connor was the best of Ireland’s three men in the individual final in Japan, finishing seventh on Kilkenny with a clear round in 88:45, a time fault cost him a place in the jump-off. A subsequent veterinary ruling (nose bleed) forced the pair’s withdrawal from the team event.
In 2024 O'Connor and Maurice took second place at the five-star Grand Prix in Wellington in February, as well as helping the Irish team win the Ocala leg of the League of Nations in Florida, and the last pre-Olympic five-star Nations Cup in Aachen on 4 July. He runs his own high performance equestrian centre in Meath.
