Nick Skelton

In doing so he became the oldest British Olympic gold medallist since 1908.

Nicholas David Skelton (born 30 December 1957, Bedworth, Warwickshire) is a British former equestrian who competed in show jumping.

He began riding at age 18 months and in 1975 took two team silvers and an individual gold at the Junior European Championships.

He has competed numerous times at the European Show Jumping Championships, winning three golds, three silvers and three bronzes both individually and with the British team over 26 years.

Skelton had plenty of early success with a horse called Maybe, but he went lame just before the Junior European Championships in 1975 and his place in the team looked lost.

However, a reputedly ordinary horse, O.K., was brought in as a substitute and Skelton won individual gold.

He currently holds the British show jumping high jump record, which he set in 1978.

His most notable successes occurred in back-to-back Olympic Games in the swansong of his career.

After this, he began riding more of the Edgar horses and in 1978, at Olympia, jumped just over 7 foot 7 inches on Lastic to set a new British record, which still stands.

When Skelton partnered with St James the following year he broke into the senior GB team, of which he remained an integral part until his retirement.

Skelton has had many successes at home and abroad and has ridden on over 164 Nations Cups teams (1978–2011).

Skelton currently holds the British Show Jumping High Jump record, at 7 ft 7in 5/16th (2.32m) set at Olympia in 1978 with Lastic.

Top horses that Skelton has ridden include Maybe, If Ever, Apollo, St. James, Major Wager, Top Gun, Grand Slam, Phoenix Park, Dollar Girl, Limited Edition, Showtime, Tinka's Boy, Hopes are High, Russel and Arko III.

Skelton's current top flight horses are Big Star, Carlo 273 and Unique, all of which are owned by Beverley Widdowson.

In 1980, he competed in the Alternative Olympics, where he helped the British team to a silver medal.

He has won various medals both as an Individual and as part of the teams in the Olympics, World Championships and European Championships between 1980 and 2016.

In 1985, Skelton split from the Edgars and went on his own; his main horse at the time, Apollo, went with him and together they formed a partnership that won nearly all the top prizes in the sport, as well as many Championship medals.

After Apollo, Skelton competed at the top level with many different horses before he teamed up with Dollar Girl in 1992 with the specific target of competing at the Barcelona Olympics.

Despite the Olympics going badly for them, Skelton and Dollar Girl ultimately won the coveted World Cup Final in Gothenburg in 1995.

In September 2000, Skelton broke his neck in a fall while competing.

The injury was serious and could have ended his show jumping career, but after retiring in 2001 he recovered and began competing again in 2002.

Skelton returned to the saddle to partner Arko III, a horse he had ridden before breaking his neck.

Skelton and Arko won the British Open title in 2004 at the British Open Show Jumping Championships and many other top prizes.

Their most disappointing moment came at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where they were leading until the final round but finished out of the medals.

After Arko retired, Skelton revisited an old friend and owner, Gary Widdowson, for support and new horses.

Gary and his wife Beverley bought, or co-bought with Skelton, a number of competition horses including Carlo 273, Skelton's European Individual Bronze medal partner, Big Star and Unique.

In 2012, at the age of 54, Skelton won an Olympic gold medal as part of the Great Britain team.

Four years later, he won the individual Olympic gold medal at his seventh Olympic Games.

Following his Olympic 2012 gold medal, the post boxes in both Alcester, where he resides, and in Bedworth, where he was born, were painted gold in his honour.

Skelton won team gold at his home Olympics in London 2012 with his horse Big Star, alongside Ben Maher, Peter Charles and Scott Brash.

Having won both team and individual Olympic gold, Skelton and his horse, Big Star, retired together shortly after the 2016 Games.

Skelton was educated at Bablake School in the city of Coventry in Central England.

Skelton rode in pony classes with little tuition before taking his pony to Ted and Liz Edgar for help when he was 14.

He worked for and helped at the Edgars for two years before leaving school with no qualifications to work full-time for them.

Skelton won gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the individual category.

Following Skelton's success at the 2016 Rio Olympics, rail operator London Midland honoured him with a gold-painted sign at Bedworth railway station.

Skelton received a nomination for the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

He received 109,197 votes, placing him third.

He retired at the age of 59 years old, on 5 April 2017.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to equestrianism.