Olympic showjumping champion Nick Skelton announces his retirement

Reigning Olympic individual showjumping champion Nick Skelton is to retire from the sport.

British Showjumping announced that 59-year-old Skelton and his Rio Olympics gold medal-winning ride Big Star would formally retire at the Royal Windsor Horse Show on May 14.

Skelton won Olympic gold last August, while four years earlier at the London Olympics he helped Great Britain to team gold alongside Scott Brash, Ben Maher and Peter Charles.

Apart from two Olympic golds, Skelton also won a World Championship silver medal and four bronzes, plus three European golds, three silver and three bronze.

He was a mainstay of British Nations Cup teams, and won grands Prix all over the world.

But it was aboard the brilliant stallion Big Star that he enjoyed his greatest triumph, delivering a showjumping masterclass in Rio last summer to achieve the prize that he always wanted.

In a statement released by BS, Warwickshire-based Skelton said: “It has come to a point, after months of thought and consideration, that myself and my partner Big Star have decided to retire from competition.

“Although there are many people, including my family, Gary and Beverley (Big Star’s owners Gary and Beverley Widdowson) and my team that were looking forward to us carrying on this year, we feel that Big Star has done everything that a rider could ask and it is time for him to relax and enjoy his stallion duties.

Source:mirror

Collected by RG