THERE IS A quiet confidence about Ireland’s equestrian athletes ahead of this summer’s 2016 Rio Olympics.
And there is good reason for this optimism. As it stands, Ireland have guaranteed seven spots in Rio — one eventing team place (four riders), one showjumping place (individual), one dressage place (individual), and one Paralympic place (individual).
Moreover, although Ireland have won 28 Olympic medals in total, they have all come from just five sports, one of which is equestrian, owing to the historic bronze medal secured by Cian O’Connor at the London 2012 Games in the Individual Showjumping event.
On Tuesday, to mark the increasingly imminent onset of the Olympics, Horse Sport Ireland organised a Team Ireland Equestrian Media Day.
Despite seven places being guaranteed, the identity of the riders set to travel won’t be confirmed until the first week of June. Although there remains some uncertainty, of the six riders that showed up at the media day – Helen Kearney, Judy Reynolds, Bertram Allen, Aoife Clark, Joseph Murphy and Cathal Daniels — some are virtually certain to travel.
One of those near-certainties is Judy Reynolds. The German-based Irish dressage rider, who The42 last spoke to back in March, has enjoyed a remarkable year. Having been ranked 144th in the world in January 2015, a meteoric rise means the 34-year-old is now up to 28th — Ireland’s highest position since the official rankings were established
In addition, Reynolds’ Olympic ranking means she secured Ireland a place in dressage in Rio this summer. The experienced athlete admits that even she has been somewhat taken aback by what’s been happening. Of her horse, Vancouver K, she explains: “I’ve had him now for eight years and he’s beginning now to surpass what I thought he would be capable of and we certainly haven’t reached our limit yet in what we can do. It makes it really exciting for the future.”
Furthermore, the Kildare native — who finished eighth in the World Cup final in Gothenburg last month as well as setting a new Irish record during a runner-up finish at the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music in Doha recently – suggests competing in Rio will surpass everything that’s come before it.
“The Olympics is something that when we were kids starting out on ponies, it was the dream. It’s starting to become very real, which is exciting. I’m really looking forward to it.”
[image alt="Bertram Allen" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/04/bertram-allen-3-630x466.jpg" width="630" height="466" title="" class="aligncenter" /end]
Another athlete who is expected to feature in Rio is Bertram Allen. The prodigiously talented 20-year-old arrives at Tuesday’s event fresh off the plane, having finished third in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Mexico City while riding Hector van d’Abdijhoeve at the weekend, and earning €60,000 as a result.
It was brilliant,” Allen says of Saturday’s success. “Hector is still a relatively new horse for me in the last six or eight months. He’s just gone from strength to strength, so I think he could be a really exciting horse in years to come.”
It is the latest in a series of impressive achievements from Allen, who last month sealed Ireland’s Olympic spot in showjumping.
And not only is the youngster likely to compete in Rio, many people regard him as one of Ireland’s most promising medal hopes.
But despite Allen’s phenomenal past 12 months, not everything has gone according to plan of late as far as Irish showjumping is concerned.
Although the Wexford rider was celebrating last month, his Irish colleague Denis Lynch narrowly failed to secure a second individual spot.
In addition, the Irish showjumping team missed out on a place in Rio in controversial fashion.
Nevertheless, Ireland are first reserve in both areas, so there is still hope of at least one extra spot in showjumping becoming available.
Consequently, team manager Robert Splaine, who has been tasked with choosing Ireland’s showjumping representative, is remaining upbeat despite the recent setbacks.
“We had a strong team at the World Games and we finished runner-up and we had an even stronger team at the World Championships. I think our performance at the World Championships was okay.
“We have a wonderful team. We’ve never been stronger in my opinion. But it’s very disappointing we don’t have a team going to Rio.”
[image alt="Aoife Clark on Master Crusoe" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/04/aoife-clark-on-master-crusoe-630x429.jpg" width="630" height="429" title="" class="aligncenter" /end]
Team Ireland is certainly unlikely to be short of experience in Rio. Aoife Clark, for instance, finished an impressive seventh in Individual Eventing at the London Olympics, while she also came fifth at the Belton International with Richard Last’s Fernhill Adventure at the weekend.
He’s a ten-year-old horse,” Clark explains. “He did an outstanding test and finished fifth overall. I didn’t go mental on him in cross country because the ground had deteriorated a bit, but after dressage, he was in second. I think he’s a real medal prospect. He doesn’t have a weak link and he’s certainly the most talented horse I’ve ridden.”
The Oxfordshire-based rider also confirms that London 2012 altered her life irrevocably.
“London was my first championships and it did change my career and really kickstarted it,” she says. “You do need a special type of horse for it, who can handle the atmosphere and handle the pressure.
“It’s unique in eventing terms that you have to jump two showjumping rounds in the last day. I think that’s where certainly in Europe the Irish team came into their own and I’m hoping now we have the motivation to do even better this time around.”
And while there will inevitably be big pressure to emulate and perhaps even supercede the impressive achievements of the last Olympics, Clark suggests her teammates will relish this challenge.
There is, of course, pressure that goes with it. I think we’ve all been in situations where we’ve had to handle that before. I think going in with the expectation of doing well is a good thing. It certainly drives you forward and makes you work harder in your preparation for it.”
The team are seemingly well placed to cope with all the hype, having enlisted the help of sports psychologist Niamh Fitzpatrick.
“It’s not the pressure of this competition, but the pressure that goes around on the outside — the external pressure. These are things that are important to address,” Eventing Team Manager, Nick Turner, explains.
“We’re looking at bringing everything together as much as possible. The result in Boekelo at the Nations Cup (in which the Irish team triumphed) was probably the catalyst in getting the confidence of all the riders over the winter in thinking that we can win a medal (at the Olympics). And with that, everyone’s worked very hard — the riders and those around them from A to Z.”
[image alt="Cathal Daniels " src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/04/cathal-daniels-630x470.jpg" width="630" height="470" title="" class="aligncenter" /end]
One member of that successful Eventing Nations’ Cup team was 19-year-old Cathal Daniels. Despite his young age, the Galway native already has won European Individual and Team Gold (in 2012), in addition to numerous other achievements. He says participating in Rio this summer has been a long-term ambition.
“The last Olympics, 2012, I was still in ponies. I’ve done Fontainebleau ponies, won double gold there. There’s been such a change in my life in the last four years to being on a squad of seniors with such great sponsors and to have such a good backing. It’d be a dream come true to actually get there and compete at the Olympics.”
[image alt="Joseph Murphy on Electric Cruise" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/04/joseph-murphy-on-electric-cruise-630x445.jpg" width="630" height="445" title="" class="aligncenter" /end]
And while Daniels watched on, Joseph Murphy was another who competed in London 2012, finishing 14th with Electric Cruise. An elder statesman by comparison, does Murphy have any words of advice for his younger colleague?
From the day I left London, Rio has been in my head,” he says. “In the last year in particular, for Cathal, it’s looking like it could be a reality now. It was the same for me, I had a couple of good results before London. Once you get closer to it, you get hungry. We all have personal sponsors that are behind us — Sport Ireland and the Olympic Council as well. We’ve a lot of backing and we need to do them justice.
“As Aoife said, we have a chance of winning a medal now. I hope I’m one of the four going (in eventing), but at the same time, there are going to be four riders that can deliver a very good result this year, so it’s very exciting to be in the hunt for that.”
Clark, meanwhile, echoes her teammate’s positivity, emphasising the level of sacrifice they’ve all put in simply to get to this point, with the Rio Olympics suddenly becoming more than just a distant dream.
We’ve been working really hard on it for the last two years. Gaining qualification (in eventing) early at the World Games in 2014 has meant that we haven’t been chasing results and chasing qualification, but we’ve been looking and preparing a team to have the best possible chance when we get out there.”
It’s clear from hearing all the athletes’ speak that there’s a strong level of dedication bordering on obsession that’s required to stay consistently at the top level of their sport. Reaching Rio would therefore be the pinnacle of a career full of endeavour with little in the way of reward or glory for the most part. And no one more so than Kearney — the Paralympian who won three medals during London 2012 including an individual silver — manages to poignantly capture just how special it is to represent your country on the biggest stage of all.
(Equestrian has) given me everything,” says the athlete, who was diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia in 2001. “It’s given me an amazing foundation. I’m really fortunate to have got the opportunity to do what I do. I can’t thank the sponsors and Sport Ireland enough.
“It’s given me a lot of what the disability takes away — something to be good at, something to do every day, it gets me up and gets me going, it means so much to me.”
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