Gerry Mullins competed in the individual showjumping at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and returned four years later to compete in both the individual and team showjumping at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

At Los Angeles, riding Rockbarton at the Santa Anita Park racecourse, he competed as the sole Irish showjumper after teammate John Ledingham’s mount was injured and withdrawn. His first-round collection of 16.25 faults placed him just a quarter of a time fault outside the qualifying mark – an extraordinary margin to miss by.

At Seoul, riding Glendalough as part of a four-man Irish team that also included Paul Darragh, Jack Doyle and John Ledingham, he again qualified for the final two rounds – described by Chef d’Equipe Billy Ringrose as ‘creditable performances over a very difficult series of courses’ – but a half-second time fault in the second qualifying round deprived him of a place in the final, leaving him 22nd overall.

A Commandant in the Irish Army, Mullins was part of the first all-professional Irish showjumping team selected under the IOC’s 1986 ruling that finally allowed professional riders to compete at the Olympics.