Olivia ‘Polly’ Holohan competed in the individual and team three-day eventing at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, riding Rusticus as part of the Irish team of Holohan, Melanie Duff, Máiread Curran and Eric Smiley that finished 8th overall.

The Irish team adopted a conservative tactical approach across the cross-country phase on the instruction of Chef d’Equipe Ronnie MacMahon, accumulating time penalties but completing safely in a competition where the sport’s Olympic future was under scrutiny.

Polly Holohan started her career with horses in Norfolk, England by running a stable and breaking yard in her home, as a member of the South Norfolk Pony Club. She first competing in the Badminton Horse Trials in 1988 and riding Rusticus, won a team bronze for Ireland at the 1989 European Eventing Championship, placing eighth individually in that event in 1991.