Horse Sport Ireland expect to hear the verdict in January ©Horse Sport Ireland

Irish showjumpers are expected to discover in January whether they will be granted Olympic qualification to Rio 2016 after their appeal to the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) concluded yesterday.

The appeal was submitted after the Irish showjumping team missed out on advancing to the Games after finishing 0.38 faults behind Spain at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) European Championships in Aachen.

Spain’s sixth place finish at the German venue had proved enough to advance to Rio 2016, but the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) believe an incident in Cian O’Connor’s round in the closing stages of the team competition cost the team a place at the Games.

An arena steward at the event ran across the path of O’Connor, riding on his horse Good Luck, prior to the pair picking up four faults on the following fence.

The 36-year-old rider, who won bronze in the individual jumping event at the London 2012 Olympics but who had been stripped of the gold medal at Athens 2004 after his horse Waterford Crystal tested positive for a prohibited substance, claimed the faults were as a result of the steward distracting his horse.

Despite the Irish team manager Robert Splaine and Cian O’Connor lodging a protest the Ground Jury ruled that as the rider had continued the round they saw no reason to stop him by ringing the bell, claiming he also had the opportunity to stop voluntarily due to unforeseen circumstances.

Splaine and O’Connor then opted to take the case to the FEI’s Appeal Committee, who after a full review of the incident in August opted not to overrule the Ground Jury’s decision, leading to HSI appealing to the CAS.

Cian O'Connor won bronze at the London 2012 Olympics in the individual event
Cian O'Connor won bronze at the London 2012 Olympics in the individual event ©Getty Images

Following the hearing in Lausanne, HSI chief executive Damian McDonald stated revealed the decision was unlikely to be revealed until 2016.

“We had a long hearing today, we now have to wait for the decision which we are unlikely to receive before early January,” he said.

“We won’t be making any further comment about the case until then.

“I want to thank our legal team of senior counsel Martin Hayden, specialist CAS counsel David Casserly, Joe Fitzpatrick and Eamon Carey from Smithwick Solicitors.

“Along with Cian O’Connor and his legal team they did a top class job in preparing and presenting the case.”

Should the Irish appeal prove successful they would be represented by two teams in equestrian competition at Rio 2016, after their eventing team booked their place at the Games as a result of their performance at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy.