Cian O'Connor's road to Olympic gold has been hard, if not particularly long. At 24, he must be one of the youngest Olympic equestrian medallists in the history of the Games. Horsemanship is an art that can take a lifetime to master. O'Connor having started late, at 14, has certainly made up for lost time.
In common with his businessman father, Tadhg, he had been a reluctant schoolboy rugby player who discovered that, for him, no sport could compete with horses.
"I had bet €100 on Cian to win a medal. I hadn't thought about it being gold," Mr O'Connor senior told The Irish Times on his return from Athens.
"In my wildest dreams I had hoped he would get a bronze, but I thought no further than that." He and Cian's mother, Louise, both Dubliners, were at the Games to watch the drama of their son's dream victory.
"I cried, me and everyone in Ireland. It was just . . . wonderful," he said. "Like myself, Cian had played rugby up to the age of 14. I had played in Terenure and then when I was 14, I knew it had to be horses for me. I've hunted all my life.
"The same thing happened with Cian in Belvedere. He was never that keen on rugby, but the school was. At first, he had come with me, watching hunts, and hunter trials, and then he started hunting with me. We had fantastic times with the Louth Hunt."
According to Mr O'Connor, much of his son's success is due to the courage he developed on the hunting field. "He took to it and was up in front with the pack."
For all the joy of the Olympic moment, Mr O'Connor said he would like it made clear that his son did not have everything handed to him on a plate.
"Cian has had to work hard. He is a businessman, he has had to be. He has a yard with liveries, he breaks horses, brings them on, sells them, teaches, competes. In the very beginning when he came to me and said he wanted to be a showjumper, I knew it was going to be expensive and that I couldn't pay for it."
In 1998, Mr O'Connor approached Tony O'Reilly with a proposal. "I said I had a young fella who wanted to be a showjumper." Mr O'Reilly responded less as a doting godfather and primarily as a businessman.
"He said Cian had to come up with a business proposition."
Eventually, the young rider and his father formalised their plan. Tony O'Reilly was in. This led to the purchase of a mare called Impressionist. She was followed by the elegant French gelding, Normandy, an international Grand Prix competitor.
But long before these two important horses were bought, Cian O'Connor the rider had been shaped by a very special horse. "It really began with my horse Radiman, I bought him as a hunter and having ridden him, began sharing him with Cian."
Radiman, a chestnut Irish Draught gelding, proved to be a horse of huge generosity who shaped the young rider along with his mentor Gerry Mullins.
"There was a lot of mileage on Radiman's legs. He did so much for us," said Tadhg O'Connor. "He is a big part of this story, of Cian's story."
Word of mouth lead Cian to Waterford Crystal. A contact in Germany alerted him to the existence of a quality horse that was worth looking at.
Having seen a video of the gelding who would become his Olympic partner, "Cian went to Paul Schockemole's yard in Germany to have a closer look", said his father. That was four years ago.
Limbani, as he was then known, had already competed nationally under a female rider. "Cian was very impressed and bought him with the Olympics in mind. He's a lovely horse with a very nice temperament," said Mr O'Connor senior.
The Olympic dream became a reality. But for Ireland's latest Olympic champion, as with any international rider, the biggest question remains, where is the next great horse?
