Equestrian: Newcomer Paul O'Brien named over Andrew Nicholson for three-day event

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Equestrian Paul O'Brien headed off on his Big OE - and ended up in an Olympic dream team.

The 31-year-old Aucklander walked away from his job as a mortgage broker to chase his ambition of being a top rider.

It paid off yesterday when he was named in the three-day eventing team with three of the greatest names in the sport.

O'Brien will today join double gold medallist Mark Todd, world and Olympic champion Blyth Tait and former world champion Vaughn Jefferis in the quest to claim New Zealand's first team gold.

He was selected over the experienced campaigner Andrew Nicholson, a four-time Olympian.

New Zealand three-day chef d' equipe Arthur Grenside said it had been a tough decision but the selectors felt O'Brien had the form.

Nicholson is expected to ride in the individual competition next week.

O'Brien's Olympic debut comes 20 years after he first began riding ponies at his Aunt Cathy's farm during school holidays and joined the Greenhithe Pony Club.

The childhood love of horses stayed with him, even when he left school and found himself cooped up in an Auckland office dealing with housing finance.

"I knew it wasn't for me and decided to check out the horse scene," he said.

In 1990, after working as a groom in south Auckland, O'Brien headed off to England to see if he could make it in the tough European equestrian circuit. "I thought I would give it a go in the UK for a while and was fortunate enough to get some good horses to ride there.

"It all fell into place and here I am, 10 years later."

Tait is O'Brien's partner but neither wishes to discuss the relationship publicly.

O'Brien will say that Tait is the person who had the greatest input into his career.

"He has trained me from day one, so he has been the main influence on me and my riding career."

In Sydney, O'Brien will ride Enzed, a North Shore thoroughbred he took to England five years ago.

They qualified for the Olympics with a 10th placing at Badminton this year.

In a further show of his skills, O'Brien also won the Breda event in Holland in July on another mount, Rock It.

The three-day competition begins today with the dressage. Todd will lead off on Diamond Hall Red, followed by O'Brien.

Tait (Ready Teddy) and Jefferis (Bounce) will complete their dressage phases tomorrow.

The selection of Tait and Ready Teddy in the team's event denies the pair a chance of defending their individual title next week.

Grenside said the O'Brien-Nicholson dilemma and the decision to put Ready Teddy in the team were the hardest decisions to make.

Todd was always expected to ride first, while Jefferis and Bounce rode last when New Zealand claimed the World Games title in Rome two years ago.

"Obviously if there was a problem with the first one or two horses in the showjumping on the last day, you would be looking for a high performance from your fourth horse," Grenside said.

Three-day eventing competition begins today at 10.30 am.