Neighver Say Neighver Again - The Incredible Story of Cian O'Connor

Even amongst the excitement in the boxing ring, the bronze medal of Cian O'Connor might be an enduring story from these Games. He is a controversial figure in Ireland's already eventful sporting history, but if nothing else it adds another chapter to what was already a rather remarkable story.

2004 was a pretty abject Olympics for the Irish. Sonia retired, Lee upset in the early stages, it seemed as though we were destined to finish with nothing to show. Step forward Waterford Crystal. For years the country had taken pride in the glassware of the same name; now it was a horse with the famous moniker that captured the nation's hearts. A gold medal in the showjumping was celebrated across the land, and O'Connor was hailed as a hero, the saviour of a campaign destined for failure.

Of course, it was not quite as it seemed. Just like the last time we had tasted victory, the issue of drugs was to rear its ugly head. The horse tested positive for fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol, a pair of human sedatives that were not performance enhancing, but also not licensed for equine use. Then, it all went a bit CSI, as documents and samples were stolen, including those of ABC Landliebe, another O'Connor mount. The gold was stripped, the rider banned, and his national image destroyed to the point that he hired 24 hour security after receiving death threats.

4 years later, the reputation of showjumping in Ireland took another massive hit, as Denis Lynch and his horse Lantinus were withdrawn on the eve of the Olympics due to another drug scandal. Cynicism and scepticism were now the name of the game within the sport. Even team selections were a point of concern, O'Connor himself unsure of his Olympic participation in London until the 11th hour.

And then, if it were possible, it all got more dramatic. O'Connor was eliminated from proceedings in the qualifying rounds, only for the Irishman (serving as first standby) to be reinstated after another horse was ruled unfit to compete. And of course, in a story this convoluted, it was only ever going to end with a medal. It came in a jump-off, decided by knocking the very last fence. Indeed, it could have been gold had it not been for a time penalty after exceeding the limit by 0.02 seconds.

The prospect of O'Connor returning to quite the reception that greeted him after Athens seems unlikely. He'll be welcomed into every publishing house, scriptwriter's office and movie studio on the planet, though. Cliff Morgan put it better than I ever could:

If the greatest writer of the written word would have written that story, no-one would have believed it.