Former U.S. Equestrian Federation President David O’Connor today was elected chairman of the FEI (international equestrian federation) eventing committee. The decision came at the FEI’s annual meeting in Uruguay, where he got twice as many votes as the other contender, Alec Lochore of Great Britain, the 2012 Olympic eventing manager.
The 2000 Olympic eventing individual gold medalist and formerly the U.S. eventing technical director, David replaces Guiseppe Della Chiesa of Italy, whose term was up.
David is also head of the FEI eventing safety sub-committee. Although he was in line to be second vice president of the FEI, the FEI President Ingmar DeVos noted David has a full plate of responsibilities. For that reason, the other candidate, Mark Samuel of Canada, got the post. Mark, a former show jumper, is president of the FEI Group IV, which includes the U.S. as well as Canada and several other countries.