Most of those in the know will tell you they’re unquestionably among our best Olympic medal chances. That they don’t need to break any world records in Paris or beat any raging hot favourites. They just need to keep doing what they’re doing.
This being the Irish men’s showjumping team and the event where anything can and often does go wrong. Especially inside the Olympic arena.
As medal projections go, however, winning the five-star €1.5 million Nations Cup is about as good as it gets, and Irish showjumping high-performance director Michael Blake made no secret of his ambition to turn that success in Aachen, Germany earlier this month into Olympic gold in Paris.
Blake’s team of Denis Lynch, Bertram Allen, Shane Sweetnam and Cian O’Connor dominated the field to finish on a zero score (without anchor rider O’Connor needing to jump in round two).
Sweetnam and O’Connor have been selected for Paris, along with Daniel Coyle, with that trio set to compete at the showjumping venue at the Palace of Versailles, the once bastion of French royalty.
O’Connor is headed to his fourth Olympics, after winning an individual show jumping bronze in London 2012, eight years after surrendering the gold medal won in Athens in 2004 after his horse Waterford Crystal tested positive for a banned stimulant.
Equally experienced is Sweetnam, the 43-year-old from Dunmanway in Co Cork, though his home for the last 20 years has been Wellington in Florida, where he runs the Sweet Oak equestrian farm along with his wife Ali.
This will be his second successive Olympics, Sweetnam is also well-versed in the unpredictable nature of his event: three years ago, having travelled as a reserve to Tokyo and replacing O’Connor for the team event, he fell badly off his horse Alejandro, the team then eliminated.
“For me obviously it was a negative experience, it didn’t go well,” he says of Tokyo. “I would also say that I learned a lot, and in sport in general, a lot of my losses have always helped me get better.
“Since then I have had to work and change some things, and am mentally stronger. The last two years I have been as strong as I have ever been and lucky to have an exceptional horse as well at the moment.
“But there are two things with Irish show jumping, in that sense. One is the Olympics and the other is the Aga Khan. Other than that, I could win the biggest Grand Prix, in Aachen [recently] worth a million-and-a-half, and there is very little chatter about it.”
Sweetnam was also part of the Irish team that won team gold at the 2017 European Championships, before winning his first World Cup event on James Kaan Cruz in Lexington last year, a landmark victory that helped turn the partnership into one of the most revered in the sport.
“Every Irish kid or anyone around the world dreams about going to the Olympics,” he says. “When I did my first Nations Cup for Ireland then you realise you are not that far away from it. Then it depends on the talent of the horse and the experience you have as a rider.
“In the last 10 years, I was close to maybe going to London and from that point on I have been always knocking on the door. This time I think we have a very serious chance, we have a very strong team that is in form. Every round counts as there is no drop score, which there used to be before, so a lot can happen.
“We are lucky at the moment that our riders have some good horses. Last year we had a silver medal at the Europeans and that team has changed a good bit since then, so the Irish riders at the moment are very strong and lucky with good owners and horses.”
Later this week, Sweetnam will head for Paris, collecting James Kaan Cruz en route (the horse is based in Belgium).
“It’s different to other sports in that I’m 43 now, I’m not in my mid-20s, so I have a good bit of experience of rejection and success. Yes, you want to be there but you want to be there fairly and deserve to be there.
“Like every sport, preparation has to be right. If you brush a jump and it stays, it’s not a fault but if you brush it and it goes then it’s four faults. It’s like hitting the post on one side or the other.
“So luck is a factor but it’s not the only factor. You have to have your homework done as well.”
Team Ireland equestrian team
Showjumping
Shane Sweetnam (Dunmanway, Co. Cork), Riding James Kann Cruz
Daniel Coyle (Ardmore, Co. Derry), Riding Legacy
Cian O’Connor (Karlswood, Co. Meath), Riding Maurice
Eventing
Austin O’Connor (Mallow, Co. Cork), Riding Colorado Blue
Sarah Ennis (Howth, Co. Dublin), Riding Action Lady M
Susie Berry (Dromore, Co. Down), Riding Wellfields Lincoln
Dressage
Abigail Lyle (Bangor, Co. Down), Riding Giraldo
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