Team Ireland will take 132 athletes to compete across 15 different sporting disciplines in Paris this summer, making this year’s contingent the biggest-ever Irish squad at an Olympics.
However, green-clad athletes taking the saddle in France are the focus of our latest Olympic squad special feature today, with Ireland’s hopefuls in equestrian and cycling events taking their turn in the spotlight.
These competitors have a chance to make history on the banks of the Seine in 2024, as no Irish athlete has ever returned from a summer Olympics with a gold or even a silver medal in either equestrian or cycling events.
Cycling (Track Events)
Lara Gillespie
Events: Team Pursuit, Madison, Omnium
23-year-old Wicklow native Lara Gillespie competes for Ireland in both track and road events, and she arguably represents the nation’s best shot at landing a medal in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in early August.
With no indoor velodrome to offer practice or training opportunities in Ireland, Gillespie – along with her teammates – has been doing the vast majority of her prep work at the Irish base in Mallorca, and she will take part in three Olympic events in Paris: the Team Pursuit, Madison and Omnium.
Gillespie was an Irish National Women’s Road Race champion in 2020 and 2023, while she also earned a gold medal at the U23 Track European Championships Omnium and the U23 Track European Championships Points Race last year.
Gillespie was also part of the Ireland women’s team pursuit foursome that smashed the national record twice in February 2023.
Alice Sharpe
Events: Team Pursuit, Madison
A two-time National Road Race champion in Ireland (2019, 2022), Alice Sharpe will make her Olympic debut at the age of 30 in Paris when she competes in the Madison and in the Team Pursuit event alongside Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Mia Griffin.
The accomplished performer was part of the national record-setting team pursuit quartet in February 2023, and the Belfast-born cyclist recently spoke about the prospect of competing in Paris, saying:
It’s really special. For it to actually come true, and to be weeks away from going to Paris, is really, really special.
Kelly Murphy
Events: Team Pursuit
Kelly Murphy is another Team Pursuit member for Ireland, and the 34-year-old took a somewhat unconventional path into competitive racing and to the Olympic Games.
“I bought a bike because of the bad public transport and I was racing against myself,” said Murphy in a recent press interview. “I was studying for my PhD at the University of Aston when I was asked to cycle for a club.”
The Birmingham-born cyclist qualified to represent Ireland through her full set of four Irish grandparents, though she admits that she was a fish out of water in the Team Ireland camp in Mallorca.
I had never been to a velodrome or on a track bike before I went to Mallorca,” Murphy says. “Nobody told me how to stop. You can’t stop pedalling or you’ll fall down the bank, which is at a 40-degree incline.
Murphy was part of the four-strong unit that set a new national record at the 2022 Track World Championships in Paris. She also went on to set a new national record in the individual pursuit at the same championships.
Mia Griffin
Events: Team Pursuit
Mia Griffin hails from Kilkenny, and having first enjoyed sporting success for club (Glenmore) and county in camogie, the talented athlete swapped disciplines and moved into cycling in 2017.
A bronze medallist at the U23 Track European Championships Individual Pursuit, 25-year-old Griffin currently turns out for the UK-based pro team DAS-Hutchinson-Brother.
Griffin was part of the Irish team that won a silver medal behind New Zealand in the Hong Kong Nations Cup in March, a result that booked the quartet’s passage to Paris 2024, where the trailblazers will be the first Irish men’s or women’s pursuit team to compete at the Olympics.
Equestrian
Abi Lyle
Horse: Giraldo
Events: Dressage
Abigail Lyle, who comes from Bangor in County Down, was selected to compete for Ireland in the Individual Dressage event on 30th and 31st July in Paris.
Lyle is no stranger to high-profile events, having ridden Giraldo at the 2022 FEI World Equestrian Games and 2023 European Dressage Championships in Riesenbeck. The 39-year-old is listed as the highest-ranked Irish dressage rider in the current FEI World Dressage Ranking (97).
Speaking in an interview with Evoke in June, Lyle spoke about her upcoming Olympic appearance, saying:
When I moved to England in 2009, my ultimate goal was to do a PSG [Prix St. Georges]. So, to say the Olympics was beyond my wildest dreams is a teeny understatement.
Susie Berry
Horse: Wellfields Lincoln
Events: Eventing
Born in Dromore, County Down, but based in Northamptonshire in the UK, Susie Berry has represented Ireland at six separate European Championships from Ponies through to Young Riders level, picking up gold and bronze medals along the way.
Now an established senior rider, Susie has also performed at both the World and European Championship at elite level, and her efforts helped Team Ireland to secure qualification for the 2024 Olympics. Currently ranked 115th in the world, Berry will be determined to make a mark as part of Ireland’s Eventing team alongside Sarah Ennis and Austin O’Connor.
Sarah Ennis
Horse: Action Lady
Events: Eventing
Anyone familiar with the Irish equestrian scene will recognise a familiar face in Sarah Ennis. The 49-year-old, who comes from Howth in Dublin, has been representing her country since 2002. Ennis has ridden over 50 horses in nearly 300 different competitions for Ireland over the past two decades.
A silver medallist at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in North Carolina, Ennis has also competed at two European Championship competitions, placing fourth with her teammates in the 2017 edition. Co-owner of Stellor Sport Horses alongside her husband in Batterstown, Co Meath, Ennis will make her Olympic debut this summer.
Austin O’Connor
Horse: Colorado Blue
Events: Eventing
Mallow man Austin O’Connor is an Olympic veteran, having represented Ireland at the games in Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2021. Based at Attington Stud in Oxfordshire (UK), where he has been living since 1994, O’Connor brings a wealth of experience to the Eventing Team in Paris.
O’Connor, who turns 50 in December, has also competed for Ireland in numerous European and World Championships, and with his familiar charge Colorado Blue, he became the first Irish entrant in 58 years to win the Maryland Horse Trials, where he triumphed in 2023.
He also showcased his skill at the recent Aston le Walls international horse trials in England where he claimed top spot with a score of 39.80.
Cian O’Connor
Horse: Maurice
Events: Showjumping
Cian O’Connor has been an Irish equestrian staple since making his bow in the Nations Cup at the tender age of 19, and the 44-year-old has competed at three Olympic Games, four World Championships and six European Championships during his illustrious career.
O’Connor’s international career highlight came in 2012 when he picked up an individual bronze medal to become Ireland’s first and only equestrian Olympic medallist. The veteran has been talking up Irish chances of repeating the feat in 2024, saying:
The Irish show-jumping team is on the crest of a wave currently and only last week we won the prestigious Aachen Nation’s Cup event in Germany. Like in any sport, a winning team breeds confidence and from that momentum follows. So hopefully all horses and riders stay healthy, and we can deliver our best performance together in Paris.
Shane Sweetnam
Horse: James Kann Cruz
Events: Showjumping
A first cousin of Irish international rugby player Donnacha Ryan, Shane Sweetnam comes from good sporting stock, and he was already competing at Grand Prix level as a precociously talented teenager when he was just 16.
Now a hardened performer at 43, Sweetnam moved to work with US Olympian Margie Engle in 2004 and has been stateside since. Sweetnam was a gold medallist in a team event for Ireland at the 2017 European Championship, while four years after that, he won a five-star Grand Prix competition at the prestigious Wellington Equestrian Festival in the US. The Cork native will feature at the Olympics for the first time in Paris.
Daniel Coyle
Horse: Legacy
Events: Showjumping
Daniel Coyle, who completes the Irish three-man showjumping team in Paris, is perhaps one of the least-known athletes on the Team Ireland roster, though he is used to upsetting the odds as an outsider and he could thrive in the City of Lights this summer.
The 30-year-old from Derry’s Ardmore moved to Canada in 2016 to work with famed breeder and agent Barry O’Connor, though he has since returned to Ardmore, where he has established a foothold of his own. Coyle has posted 140 FEI wins over the course of his prolific career and is currently ranked number 11 in the world.
Interestingly, his namesake Dan Coyle represented Ireland at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in the hammer throw event. However, it’s Daniel’s turn to throw his weight around in 2024.
To keep up to date with all the cycling and equestrian Olympics fixtures, join TonyBet today!
