A bid by Tuamgraney’s Michael Blake to win an Olympic team medal in showjumping ended in disappointment when Team Ireland finished seventh in Friday’s final.
Chef d’Equipe Michael Blake steered the Ireland Showjumping team into Friday’s Olympic final at the stunning Château de Versailles with a good display in the qualifier on Thursday.
The Irish trio of Daniel Coyle, Cian O’Connor and Shane Sweetnam were hoping to produce a great performance in the final at the Chateua de Versailles but just fell short.
Shane Sweetman on James Kann Cruz almost got Ireland off to the perfect start up until the final obstacle, which they clipped and knocked, as well as picking up one time penalty, leaving them on five penalties after one round.
Derry rider Daniel Coyle on his mount Legacy kept Ireland in the hunt for major honours after a perfect round. They never knocked a barrier and were well inside the allotted time.
This left Ireland fourth after two show jumping rounds. There was a 20 minute break before the final round, with Cian O’Connor and his mount Maurice the fourth last duo in the ring.
Great Britain, France, the USA and Ireland were chasing down medals at this stage. A clear round from Cian O’Connor would have almost guaranteed Ireland a first ever equestrian team medal.
However, Ireland’s medal hopes were cruelly dashed in team equestrian when Cian O’Connor and Maurice incurred nine faults on the final round, bringing their tally to 14.
Ireland finished up seventh after Great Britain took gold with a brilliant final round. The USA took the silver medal with France and the Netherlands tying for bronze.
Ireland finished Thursday’s qualifier on an overall score of nine faults in a combined time of 230.22, which placed them in sixth place out of 20 competing countries.
Mr Blake’s charges battled it out in the final with Germany, USA, Great Britain, Netherlands, France, Sweden, Belgium, Israel and Mexico.
Dan Danaher
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.