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Thursday, September 21
O'Connor loses just one rail
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- David O'Connor won the individual
three-day event Friday (Thursday night ET), giving the United
States its first equestrian gold medal since 1984.
|  | | David O'Connor takes a victory lap after giving the U.S. its first equestrian gold since 1984. |
O'Connor, of The Plains, Va., riding Custom Made, had a margin
of two jump rails over Andrew Hoy of Australia entering the show
jumping ring as the last rider. He took down only one.
O'Connor added 5 points for that jump rail to his dressage score
of 29.0 and his clean cross-country round to finish with 34.0
points.
The biggest cheers were for hometown favorite Hoy aboard Swizzle
In. Hoy moved from fourth to silver with a clean jumping round and
39.8 points.
Mark Todd of New Zealand won the bronze on Eyespy II with 42.0
points.
O'Connor scared himself and his fans when he almost made a wrong
turn on course, nearly missing fence 7, a solid wall, which would
have meant elimination.
The crowd knew he was lost and started shouting "The wall!"
O'Connor said later he didn't hear the shouts.
"My head is still sore from being on a swivel looking for the
next fence," he said. "There was a moment there of words that
can't be printed."
"I was worried about the green gate (fence 6) and I got a
little lost," O'Connor said. "I was so upset about the missed
turn that I still thought about it during the victory gallop."
O'Connor also won a bronze medal in the team three-day event on
Tuesday, adding to his team silver from Atlanta.
One other U.S. rider, Robert Costello of Southern Pines, N.C.,
was in medal contention when the day started. But he took down two
rails on Chevalier and dropped from sixth to eighth with 52.4.
Julie Black of Newnan, Ga., rode a clean show jumping round on
Hyde Park Corner and moved up from 12th to ninth with 53.6.
The individual three-day event was marred on Thursday's
cross-country course with serious spills that resulted in the death
of one horse, Bermuda's Gold from Bermuda, several injuries to
riders and numerous withdrawals or eliminations. Only 23 of the
original 38 entries remained for show jumping on the final day.
After the medal ceremony, O'Connor commented on the competitive
spirit of his equine partners.
"Our horses love what they do," he said. "They are true
athletes. At this level you can't make a horse do this if he
doesn't want to."
The medal ceremony was also a retirement ceremony of sorts for
Todd, 44, who has twice won the individual three-day Olympic gold
medal and is the sport's most successful rider. Todd said he's
going to now concentrate on breeding and training race horses.
"We'll all miss him," said O'Connor. "It's an era, and it's
drawn to a close. It's like in art and music, where you can teach
technique but you can't teach art. Mark's an artist."
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ALSO SEE
Cross-country course no problem for USA's O'Connor
USA's O'Connor leads individual three-day event
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