Patrick Conolly-Carew, 7th Baron Carew, was one of the most distinguished figures in Irish equestrianism, competing in the three-day event at two Olympic Games - Mexico 1968 and Munich 1972 - and going on to serve as chef d'équipe of the Irish eventing team at the 1976 Montreal Games, as president of the Equestrian Federation of Ireland from 1979 to 1985, and as chairman of the FEI eventing committee from 1979 to 1997.
Raised at Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, he was educated at Harrow and commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards in 1958, taking up eventing during his time at Sandhurst. On his mare Ballyhoo - a former barge horse from the canal at Robertstown, County Kildare - he won a team silver medal at the 1962 European Eventing Championships at Burghley and completed Badminton eleven times in his career.
Selected for the 1968 Mexico Games, he did not compete after his horse Ping Pong developed grass sickness before the event. At the 1972 Munich Games, riding Tawny Port, he finished 28th individually and was a member of the Irish team that finished 9th of 19 competing nations. He was later president of the ground jury at the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He sat on the cross benches of the House of Lords after inheriting his title in 1994.
His sister Diana Conolly-Carew competed in showjumping at Mexico 1968, and his daughter Virginia McGrath competed in eventing at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 - making theirs one of the most remarkable families in Irish Olympic history.
He passed away on 18 December 2024.
Equestrian
