| Kevin Babington | |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Sport: | Equestrian |
| Birth Date: | 24 August 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland |
Kevin Babington (born 24 August 1968) is an Irish equestrian.[1] He competed in two events at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[2] In 2019, Babington was paralyzed from the neck down following a fall at the Hampton Classic Horse Show.[3] [4]
Babington was born in 1968 in Clonmel, County Tipperary,[1] the youngest of eleven children.[3] [5] He attended a riding school in Kill, County Kildare when he was 17, undertaking his riding instructor exams with the British Horse Society.[1] The following year, he moved to the United States to become a professional show jumper.[1] [3]
After working as an instructor at a summer camp,[5] he moved to New Jersey, setting up his own business.[1] In 2001, he was part of the Irish team that won gold at the European Championships,[1] before finishing in eighth place at the FEI World Equestrian Games a year later.[1] [6] At the 2000 FEI Nations Cup, he was part of Ireland's team that won gold,[4] the first for Ireland at the Nations Cup in more than sixty years.[1]
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Babington competed in the individual jumping and team jumping events,[7] with a best finish of joint-fourth in the individual event.[8] Originally, Babington had finished in fifth place, but the horse rode by the original gold medal winner, Cian O'Connor, was disqualified for doping.[9]
In August 2019, Babington was riding at the Hampton Classic Horse Show in Bridgehampton, New York, where he fell from his horse.[1] [10] As a result from the fall, he was paralyzed from the neck down.[1] [11] Despite his injury, Babington continued to work as a horse trainer.[1] In February 2021, Babington was awarded with a lifetime achievement award by the American magazine Robb Report's Horsepower Gala.[12]