Name Nick Skelton Spouse Bettina Melliger Weight 77 kg | Height 1.75 m Role Equestrian | |
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Children Daniel Skelton, Harry Skelton Olympic medals Equestrian at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Team jumping Similar People Ben Maher, Scott Brash, Peter Charles, Gerco Schroder, Marc Houtzager | ||
Equine superstars nick skelton s big star
Nicholas David Skelton, CBE (born 30 December 1957, Bedworth, Warwickshire) is a former British equestrian who competed in show jumping. He retired at the age of 59 years old, on 5 April 2017. 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 a 26-year time period. In 1980 he competed in the Alternative Olympics where he helped the British team to a silver medal. He currently holds the British Show Jumping High Jump record, which he set in 1978.
Contents
- Equine superstars nick skelton s big star
- Nick skelton big star grosser preis von aachen 2013
- Education
- Life and career
- Major achievements
- Horses
- References
In 2012, at the age of 54, Skelton won the Olympic gold medal as part of the winning Great Britain team. In 2016, at the age of 58, Skelton won the Individual Olympic gold medal at his seventh Olympic Games.
Nick skelton big star grosser preis von aachen 2013
Education
Skelton was educated at Bablake School in the city of Coventry in Central England.
Life and career
Nick Skelton began riding aged 18 months when he got his first pony, a Welsh Mountain called Oxo who was born in the same year as Skelton and lived to be 39; both Skelton's children learnt to ride on Oxo. 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 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 O.K a reputedly ordinary horse substituted and Skelton won individual gold. After this Skelton began riding more of the Edgar horses, and in 1978 jumped just over 7 foot 7 inches to set a new British record at Olympia with Lastic. When Skelton partnered with St James the following year he broke into the senior GB team, of which he has been an integral part ever since.
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.
Skelton broke his neck in September 2000 which 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 been riding as a youngster before breaking his neck. Together 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.
After Arko retired Skelton revisited an old friend and owner for support and new horses, Gary and Beverley Widdowson now own his competition horses that include Carlo 273, his European Individual Bronze medal partner, Big Star and Unique.
He has written an autobiography, Only Falls And Horses, and will soon publish an updated version.
He has two sons with his first wife Sarah Skelton (née Edwards) and both are active in horse racing. Daniel is a National Hunt Trainer and Harry is a National Hunt Jockey who in 2009 became the youngest winner of The Irish Grand National on Niche Market.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to equestrian sport.
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 gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the individual category. In doing so he became the oldest British Olympic gold medallist since 1908. 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 was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to equestrianism.
Major achievements
Skelton has had many successes at home and abroad and has ridden on over 164 Nations Cups teams (1978–2011). 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.
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.
Horses
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.
Skelton won team Gold at his home Olympics in London 2012 with his horse Big Star, alongside Ben Maher, Peter Charles and Scott Brash.