Kevin Babington represented Ireland in the individual and team show jumping at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, finishing 4th individually on Carling King – one of the finest results in Irish show jumping history.

His path to that result was itself remarkable. The youngest of eleven children born to a wool merchant and politician in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Babington attended CBS Carrick-on-Suir before spending a year at the legendary Iris Kellett’s Riding School in Kill, Co. Kildare aged 17.

In 1987, aged 18, he moved to the United States with $300 in his pocket. He worked at a Vermont summer camp, then at a New Jersey farm, before forming connections with two of American show jumping’s most distinguished figures – John Madden and then Frank and Mary Chapot, with Frank having ridden in six Olympics and coached the US team for six more. His career was transformed by his partnership with Carling King – a headstrong Irish-bred gelding he described as the horse that finally put him on the map. Together they helped Ireland win gold at the 2001 European Championships in Holland and Babington finished 8th individually at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez.

At Athens he was initially placed joint 5th before being upgraded to joint 4th when the gold medallist Cian O’Connor’s horse Waterford Crystal was disqualified following a positive drugs test. The Irish team finished 10th. He was widely regarded as one of the most generous and humble figures in international show jumping, known for waiving his coaching fees for young riders who could not afford them.

In August 2019 he suffered a catastrophic fall at the Hampton Classic in Bridgehampton, New York, when his horse Shorapur fell with him during the Grand Prix qualifier, leaving him paralysed from the chest down. He underwent emergency surgery and rebuilt his life with characteristic determination, continuing to coach from his wheelchair and founding the Kevin Babington Foundation to support equestrian athletes with spinal injuries and to campaign for improved safety equipment across the sport.