David O'Connor (equestrian) David O'Connor (equestrian) David John O'Connor (born January 18, 1962) is a retired equestrian who represented the United States in the sport of three-day eventing. He competed in two Olympic Games, winning a team silver at the 1996 Summer Olympics and an individual gold and team bronze at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 1999 Pan American Games, O'Connor took an individual silver and team gold and at the 2002 World Equestrian Games he assisted the US team to gold. After his retirement from competition in 2004, he became involved in the administrative side of international eventing. O'Connor has held
National Collegiate Equestrian Association of being an Emerging Sport. The NCAA states that "Sports in the emerging sports program are expected to grow to 40 varsity teams within 10 years – the minimum level of sponsorship needed to be considered for the ultimate goal of becoming a full-fledged NCAA championship sport." Although the 10-year mark has been passed for equestrian, the sport remained on the list because of continued growth and support. However, it has faced several threats of removal from the list. In January 2016, some 200 college administrators voted for equestrian to continue in Division II at the NCAA Convention. Dr. Leah