The Irish showjumping team missed out on spot on the plane to Rio thanks to a man we will dub the Fr. Neil Horan of the stewarding fraternity.
While the steward in question stopped short of actually tackling the horse, O'Connor is adamant that the intrusion had an unsettling impact and may well have cost Ireland a clear round.
The Grand Jury in Aachen rejected Horse Sport Ireland's appeal on the head-scratching rationale that O'Connor had the opportunity to stop voluntarily but opted not to do so.
O[Connor insists that the Grand Jury verdict is not the final word on the matter. They intend to pursue every legal avenue available to them to ensure the Irish team will get to Brazil.
We are looking into all available legal avenues to pursue this further. It’s definitely going further.
As a rider you expect to compete on a level playing field, and it’s clear that the circumstances I had to compete under were not the same as everyone else.
It’s been a dramatic week but the Olympic dream ain’t over yet by any means!!
