Edmond Gibney
Edmond Gibney, originally from Kilskyre, Kells, County Meath, Ireland (born 18 July 1974), is an Irish Olympic Three Day Eventing rider who represented Ireland in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Born in County Louth, Ireland to Eamon and Dolores Gibney, initially he worked in America where he went to the Atlanta Olympics as part of the American Equestrian Team before returning to Europe to concentrate on his own career.
Road to Athens 2004
In 2001 Edmond rode Kings Highway at Blarney Castle in the CCI**, their first International Horse Trials together, where the pair finished 8th. In the same year they ended up in 23rd place in the CCI*** at Boekelo . In 2002 they completed the CCI*** at Punchestown and later that year the duo were to record 9th Place at the Blenheim CCI*** . As the Olympics grew near, in 2003 Gibney upped the ante yet again, recording 11th place at Belton Park in the Advanced section. However it was at the Badminton CCI**** in 2003 that the pair shone, winning the Glentrool Trophy for a superb showing in the cross country and ending up in 19th place overall.[1]
Athens 2004
Edmond had a poor showing at the Olympics ending with 152.6 penalty points, which put him in 62nd place, however the team did well ending in 8th place. A fall in the cross country section, (which was the front page of The Irish Independent Newspaper at the time), scuppered Edmond's chance of a high placing.
Car Crash
On 3 March 2007, Edmond, at 32 years old, was involved in a horrific car crash in the South of England which resulted in him being in a coma for over a month in Southampton General Hospital. To the surprise of everyone once Edmond regained consciousness he made a rapid recovery and was riding again that summer. At the time was he competing on a number of horses up to intermediate level, finishing fifth in an intermediate section at Wilton on Lovejoy's Quest and winning a novice class at Borde Hill (2) on Skywalker II. Whilst, the crash gained a lot of media interest Edmond took the decision to retire from competing at an international level.
Brother of Thomas Gibney, Trainer
On 9 April 2012, Lion Na Bearnai, an Irish bred racehorse trained by Edmond's brother, Thomas Gibney at Bensfort near Kells, won the Irish Grand National. The horse which is owned by the Lock Syndicate, and was ridden by Andrew Thornton won the Irish National by four and a half lengths at a starting price of 33-1.