Cián O'Connor (born 12 November 1979) is an Irish equestrian who competes in show jumping.
He has competed at two Olympic Games, two World Championships and six European Championships, and has attained over 125 senior caps for his country.
He won an individual bronze medal at the London Olympic Games 2012 and was a member of the Irish team that took a gold medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2017.
O’Connor also won a bronze individual medal at the latter event.
He was also a member of the Irish Teams that won Aga Khan Trophy at the Dublin Horse show in 2004, 2012 and 2015.
O’Connor was also a member of the winning Irish team at the European Show Jumping Championships in 2017, again after a 16 year absence from the podium by Ireland.
He also took an individual bronze medal at these championships.
Aside from his own participation in the sport, O’Connor has also carved out a significant reputation as a coach to younger riders, with Nicole Walker and Nicola Pohl becoming two of his successful senior international students competing at the highest level of show jumping globally.
Irish brothers Tom and Max Wachman are also guided by O’Connor, with the latter taking individual gold at the 2019 European Under 16 Show Jumping Championships in Poland, while both brothers were members of the gold medal-winning team at the same venue.
O’Connor also specialises in producing younger horses to achieve top international standards and has a reputation for being able to identify horses with such potential, often early in their careers.
He won the gold medal in individual jumping at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but his award was later revoked after the sports ruling body found banned substances in its system during the games.
The FEI stated at the time that it was satisfied "that the show jumper had established that he was not involved in a deliberate attempt to affect the performance of the horse."