Daniel Coyle admits 'there wasn't much left to give' as Paris Olympics final ends in retired call
Ardmore’s Daniel Coyle made the decision to retire Legacy during yesterday’s Jumping Individual final - aware “there wasn’t much left to give".
Coyle entered the morning equestrian showdown in Paris as one of the final three riders listed in the field, with three top of the leaderboard on clear rounds at that point.
Hopes of matching his previous Team Ireland form of three confidence-boosting clear rounds, recorded over the team and individual outings, with a performance towards securing his place in the medal jump-off were dashed by penalties.
Once the jump-off proved beyond reach, Coyle opted to retire Legacy from the remaining fences at the Chateau de Versailles venue.
“Unfortunately we picked the worst day not to jump clear,” said 30-year-old Coyle. “We saw the world number one come off his horse in spectacular fashion, that just showed that the Olympics is a different game.
"But I’m very happy and proud of how we performed.
"It’s just the end of the week, we were all tired and there wasn’t much left to give.”
Steve Guerdat (Switzerland), Maikel van der Vleuten (the Netherlands) and Christian Kukuk (Germany) entered the medal jump-off as the only three to finish the field without penalties – with the latter eventually securing gold.
Coyle had qualified third best after recovering from illness on Sunday following "a very tough 24 hours".
He previously helped secure seventh in the Paris team showjumping event.
Daniel Wiffen's Sunday swimming bronze moved the tally of medals by athletes from Northern Ireland up to seven across six milestone days in our country's sporting history, a run he sparked into life last Tuesday with the 800m triumph for Team Ireland.
Jack McMillan (Team GB), Hannah Scott (Team GB) and Rhys McClenaghan (Team Ireland) followed Wiffen as delivering the gold standard alongside Rebecca Shorten (Team GB, silver) and Philip Doyle (Team Ireland, bronze).