SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ David O'Connor won the individual three-day event Friday (Thursday night EDT), giving the United States its first equestrian gold medal since 1984.

O'Connor, of The Plains, Va., riding Custom Made, had a margin of two jump rails over Andrew Hoy of Australia as he entered the ring as the last rider. He took down only one.

O'Connor added 5 points for that jump rail to his dressage score of 29.0 and his clean cross-country round to finish with 34.0 points.

The biggest cheers were for hometown favorite Hoy. Aboard Swizzle In, he moved from fourth to silver with a clean jumping round and 39.8 points.

Mark Todd of New Zealand won the bronze on Eyespy II with 42.0 points.

O'Connor gave himself and his fans a start when he almost made a wrong turn on course, nearly missing fence 7.

"I was so worried about the green gate (fence 6) that I got a little lost," O'Connor said. "Before going in, I knew exactly what I had to do _ two rails and no time faults. All kinds of thoughts were running through my head."

O'Connor also won a bronze medal in the team three-day event on Tuesday.

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)