We thought today was going to be the day.
But as usual in sport, and as usual in matters of controversy, things never run as smoothly as you hope.
The Irish showjumping team were at the Court of Arbitration of Sport this afternoon to appeal the result of the European Championships back in August.
During the final team event, Cian O’Connor and his horse was distracted when a steward ran across his path.
O’Connor and his mount subsequently lost to out to Spain by 0.38 points and their spot at next year’s Olympics after picking up four faults following after the incident.
Horse Racing Ireland and O’Connor were in Switzerland today to have the appeal against the result heard after an initial appeal to the Ground Jury and an Appeals Committee.
Irish hopes were high that there would be some sort of resolution to the matter today, but sadly those hopes have proved unfounded as it will now be 2016 before we hear any definite decision on some more Olympic hopefuls heading to Brazil next summer.
The CAS Olympic hearing has concluded after a long day in Lausanne. It's likely to be early January before we get a decision from the CAS.
— Horse Sport Ireland (@HorseSportIRL) December 16, 2015
we had a full and complete hearing today with CAS in Lausanne.@Cian_O_Connor @TeamIRLEq @TheIrishFieldHW @RTEsport
— Brendan McArdle (@McArdleBrendan) December 16, 2015
We now have to wait for the panels decision and we won't be making any further comment until then"@Cian_O_Connor @TeamIRLEq @TheIrishFieldHW
— Brendan McArdle (@McArdleBrendan) December 16, 2015
