Name: Austin O'Connor
Event: Equestrian - Eventing
Age: 49
Austin O'Connor was part of the team that qualified Ireland at the World Eventing Championships in 2022. He was named as a reserve for Tokyo and competed due to the withdrawal of Cathal Daniels.
The Cork man, who has been based at Attington Stud in Oxfordshire since 1994, will be competing in his fourth Olympics.
He was 21st individual and eighth in the team event at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and 17th individual in Sydney. He had his best finish in Tokyo with a 13th individual place in the team event, and was the highest Irish finisher despite being a late replacement.
O'Connor is coming off the back of the best result of his career, winning his first ever five-star event in October 2023 in Maryland. In the same year he was the first Irish rider in 40 years, since Jessica Harrington, to make the podium in Badminton.
