The U.S. Equestrian Federation announced Dec. 7 that David O’Connor will work as the eventing technical advisor for the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team for the next two years, with a focus on a strong performance at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, N.C.
“He will also continue to play an important role, alongside the eventing managing director [Joanie Morris], in the development and implementation of eventing plans, pathway, program and systems that will help grow programs for developing and elite athletes,” stated the USEF press release. “Following the post-Rio Review, the role of the technical advisor has been adjusted to focus more on management of the programs and the athlete’s personal programs and goals rather than hands-on coaching.”
O’Connor previously held the title of U.S. Eventing Team Coach.
“It’s a shift to more personalized coaching,” he said. “It’s more of a strategic role than a hands-on role. It’s more of a managerial role.
“There was never a coaching job,” he continued. “It was always a technical advisor job that ended up being in a coaching role because a lot of the athletes asked for that.”
He said the plan doesn’t include hiring a national team coach, and he’ll still serve as chef d’equipe.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I would still be the team leader for all of the international events,” said O’Connor. “It’s still in the development stages as we talk to some of the athletes about the details. Some of the things are not fleshed out yet. The money is going to be targeted towards individual riders for their coaches that are locally accessible to them.”
O’Connor stepped into his position in 2012, and he developed the pipeline of programs that now exists for younger riders through the high performance program. But the United States didn’t finish a team at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (France) or at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, though Phillip Dutton won individual bronze in Rio.
During a high performance meeting today at the U.S. Eventing Association Annual Meeting and Convention in Florida, O’Connor said his position change came out of the post-Games review, which has taken nearly four months to complete and involved checking in with riders and others in the community. He described the Rio result and subsequent examination of it as “soul searching” and “heartrending.”
“One of the plans going forward was rewriting the job description of how somebody like me stands,” he said. “That job description is pretty much agreed on—there might be a couple of words that are changed here or there, but the philosophy is going to be on a different focus, a new focus. That new focus is actually completely for me to be in a place where you try to manage a program in a big way, from a management point of view, and oversee how individual programs are going on their own.”
“David has brought continuity and commitment to U.S. eventing for years,” said USEF President Chrystine Tauber in the press release. “From his gold medal and his stint as president of the USEF, to his continued focus on growing development programs, David is well positioned to move the sport of eventing forward. As an athlete, chef d’equipe and technical advisor, David has been fully committed to the process of making USA a leader in the eventing world.”
