SHOWJUMPING/European Championships:Ireland's Olympic show jumping dreams were wiped out in Mannheim yesterday as the team crashed to 13th place, knocking them out of the European Championships and next year's Games amid reports of an increasingly bitter divide in the Irish stables.

A championship official confirmed to The Irish Timesyesterday that Jessica Kürten, in direct contravention of championship rules, had refused to be stabled anywhere near Cian O'Connor when she arrived at the showgrounds at the weekend.

Kürten's mare Castle Forbes Libertina was initially put in a separate block next door to the Irish stables, but the horse was moved into the Irish barn on Monday at the request of team manager Robert Splaine. Kürten's horse was, however, kept segregated from the other Irish horses by a stable used to store tack.

Kürten has refused to speak to any of the Irish media so far during the championships but was happy to talk to members of the German press. She could not be contacted last night to comment on the stabling issue.

Splaine declined to comment, other than to say: "All the Irish team horses are in the Irish barn."

O'Connor was less reticent.

"I didn't get to the show until Tuesday morning and the other riders told me about the problem and I believe they weren't happy about it," he said yesterday.

"There seems to be a negative atmosphere in the camp and it certainly makes the winning a bit harder. People don't have to be best friends, but they should be able to put their differences aside and work together on a team."

The rift between Kürten and O'Connor first became public in 2005 when she refused to ride on teams with him after his Olympic horse Waterford Crystal failed a dope test in Athens and O'Connor was stripped of his gold medal.

Kürten has requested not to be stabled near O'Connor at other shows, but this week's controversy was by far the most public.

There is no question of Kürten having to be stabled near O'Connor at next year's Olympic events in Hong Kong, however.

The European championships in Mannheim were Ireland's last chance to qualify as a team for the Olympics and, with the Irish now out of the championships, there will definitely be no Irish show jumping team at the 2008 Games.

Kürten's world top-10 ranking will earn her an individual slot for the Olympics, but she told the German press yesterday she was concerned about the heat and humidity in Hong Kong and might well decide not to travel.

The other Irish riders will certainly not be making the trip to China next year after the disastrous result in Mannheim.

Ireland needed a top-10 placing in yesterday's first round of the Nations Cup to make the cut for today's team final, but none of the Irish riders managed to go clear over a track that caused surprisingly little trouble to many of the other 17 nations competing here.

The writing was on the wall for Ireland virtually from the outset when Cameron Hanley and SIEC Hippica Kerman hit three fences, but when Marion Hughes and Heritage Transmission also lowered three, the team situation was beyond retrieve.

Kürten and O'Connor were still in with a chance of salvaging a decent individual result, but both collected four faults, dropping Kürten from fifth to 22nd and O'Connor from 13th to 28th.

O'Connor has now pulled out of the championships to save the mare Echo Beach for next week's Spanish Nations Cup in Gijon.

The Germans lead going into today's team medal decider, but the Netherlands, Switzerland and Britain are all within one fence of the top spot on the podium.