Refusals, tumbles, sleepless nights - Showjumping chaos at the Chateau de Versailles (2024)

The rhythmic clop of hoofs on sand and guttural exhales of a toiling horse are intermittently pierced by a collective gasp from the watching masses.

Occasionally, very occasionally, there is an ovation for a clear round. We’re told Daniel Coyle’s 14-year-old mare Legacy is hot. Well, duh.

“We’re all getting hot, but they take temperatures whenever it is boiling heat, so how do you gauge that? I don't know,” he says with a shrug.

“It is normal, I guess, in this heat and after already jumping three clear (rounds), I would be warm as well, which I was, but they didn't take mine.”

There will be no medal for the two-team Ireland showjumpers in the individual final at the Olympic Games.

Just three entrants executed perfect runs without knocking a single post down. It took a jump-off before Germany's Christian Kukuk won gold.

Silver went to Swiss Olympic gold medallist Steve Guerdat, with Maikel van der Vleuten of the Netherlands taking home the bronze medal. They were the only ones to pass an extraordinary test.

Showjumping is the ultimate make-or-break sport.

This course was designed to break as many as possible. In the buildup, designer Grégory Bodo was at pains to stress the layout was top-secret.

Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz ran into trouble at the fifth and finished with 12 faults, in 22nd place. It was another level of competition. He has never seen a course as big with 15 jumps.

Coyle jumped clear in three rounds before Tuesday but retired his horse when an enormous challenge became unthinkable.

“Disappointing, I mean show jumping is one of these sports that you just can't jump clear every single round,” Coyle says. “Unfortunately, I picked the worst day to not jump clear, but I'm still very proud of the way we've jumped three clear rounds this week.

"I'll go away with my head held high for me, my horse, my owner and everybody that has supported me. I cannot thank them enough.

"Just today at the top of the arena, just before the plank at the end I lost a stirrup and a shoe. I just needed a moment to compose myself and tell her it was OK.

"But instead I came to the first distance and she hit the back pole of a triple bar and then lost a little bit of faith and when that happens we all stop riding and give up.

"And she's given so much all week that to be honest, at that point, when one was down, we were over anyway.

"It is a sh*t thing to say but actually when she had the one down, I kind of was half thinking, ‘Well, she can't do any more than that this week.’ We were hoping for a clear, but it didn't come.”

Emotion is evident in Coyle. He felt like the weakest link on the team before the games. By the end, the bandwagon was heaving as Irish fans tuned in for his excellence.

Everyone’s emotion is different at the Olympics. Trainer, owner, friends, directors, everyone wants it more.

On top of that, he was struck down by food poisoning on Sunday and jumped in qualifier after a torturous 24 hours. It means Cian O'Connor's bronze from London endures as Ireland's only show jumping medal for another four years.

Sweetman was next in the ring after his team-mate but the duo had three fences down.

“This is a different game,” explains Sweetnam. “My first Olympics, but it's like nothing else I've ever experienced.”

The Cork man will compete in the Dublin Horse Show next.

“It’s been a long six days, four big days of jumping for my horse. He has jumped great; he tried his heart out. I’d say maybe we were a little bit out of gas today and it just didn’t happen.”

What does it mean for the Irish showjumping team? The team arrived in Paris at No.1 in the Longines League of Nations ranking and with legitimate ambitions of a podium place.

Ultimately, they finished seventh having been right in contention after the two opening rounds. The individual event was a second shot at a crown. It proved a bridge too far. Only the German managed to go clear a second time to prevail overall.

“The course designer did a great job, he had three clear, three medals so it makes for a good sport and a good jump-off,” Sweetnam says.

“(I’m) not satisfied unless you win a medal. But you can learn a lot from the experience. I can guarantee you there is 27 riders coming out of that ring thinking of what they could have done different.

"Whether that is before the games, during the games or in the ring. That is the way our sport is. I'm sure there will be some sleepless nights thinking about what I could do different, but I did my best and that is all I can do.”