BEDWORTH showjumper Nick Skelton man is saddling up to compete in his seventh Olympic Games looking for a fairytale climax to his prestigious career. It is a feat he never thought he would accomplish after his dreams almost turned into a nightmare in 2000 when a bad fall during the Euro Wirral Horse Trial in Merseyside resulted in a neck injury. It not only nearly ended his career but also nearly took his life. The 54-year-old chemist’s son has been riding horses since he was three years old, but he was told he could never ride again and was forced to call time on a promising career, when after months of wearing a metal neck brace specialists warned him if he suffered another fall it was likely to be fatal. But he recovered much better than expected, and fuelled on by the disappointment of missing out on the Sydney Olympic Games, he was able to start competing again in 2002. “The ligament that supported the bones had snapped and taken a piece of bone with it. At the time, if I had had another fall it could have killed me. It was not a risk I could take,” said Skelton. “But after consulting a specialist some time later the bones and ligaments had healed much better than expected.” Skelton is a three-time European Championship gold medallist who won the 1995 World Cup in Sweden with Dollar Girl and also set a still unbeaten British showjumping high jump record of 2m 32cm in 1978. He further enhanced his reputation as a man of steel when he recovered from hip replacement surgery in 2011 to win bronze at the European showjumping championships just a few months later. But despite his long list of successes, he is yet to win an Olympic medal, something he plans to change this time around with his sights firmly set on London 2012. Skelton is currently competing at the 2012 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida as he steps up his preparations for the Olympic Games in July. “It is going well so far. I finished second in the opening event and have just won the Challenge Cup event,” said Skelton. “We’ve come here because there’s not a lot on at home and you can’t just go to indoor shows. “In the indoor shows, you don’t get the same build-up as being outside. Here, the weather’s always good, the rings are always good, the courses are good. You can try and put a team together.” The final Team GB equestrian line-up will not be finalised until June but Skelton is confident of making the cut. He was further inspired after recently competing at the London 2012 equestrian test event at the Olympic venue and has underlined his intentions to come away from the Games with a medal. He said: “We went down in July for the test event at Greenwich Park to get a feel for the stadium and everything seemed to go well. It is exciting that the Games is being held in London and to have the opportunity to compete at a home Games but I am not going there to fall down, I am going there to try and win. “With it being a home Games there is that added pressure, but we are all going down there knowing what to expect. “If I have learnt one thing from previous Games it is that you need a good horse, and with Carlo and Big Star I have two very good horses.” To keep up-to-date with the progress of all of Coventry and Warwickshire’s London 2012 Hopefuls, visit the website at www.coventry.gov.uk/london2012 | 
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