There was nothing better to assuage Irish Olympic equestrian disappointments than to see our good friend Nick Skelton win a brilliant gold medal at his seventh time of trying. He won team gold at London in 2012 but at age 58 this is his first individual triumph.

His climb to this pinnacle hasn’t been an easy one. He once commented: “I’ve had two cartilage operations, a shoulder replacement, a broken neck, and a hip replacement. But, apart from that, I am fine.” No wonder he has been dubbed a bionic man. Just before he got that hip replacement a couple of years ago, I met him as he struggled to walk the Grand Prix course at Ballsbridge. “It really hurts when I walk but better in the saddle,” he noted at that time.

During his long and illustrious career Nick has been a constant visitor to Ireland. He has equalled David Broome’s record of five Dublin Grand Prix wins. Two of them were back-to-back on the Irish-bred Phoenix Park in 1990 and 1991. He has also been part of 11 British Aga Khan winning teams. Among his many home wins are four Gold Cups and three Hickstead Derbys.

But this is the pinnacle he has always strived for. “All my dreams have come true and I will not try another Games. I will be too old for Tokyo,” he told BBC’s Claire Baldwin.

But what a superb win this was. Having made it into the final 35 last Friday he delivered two foot perfect clears on the 13-year-old Big Star, who is by Quick Star out a Nimmerdor dam. That brought him into a unique jump-off in which six combinations were starting on zero score. First of those six to go, Skelton drew on all his vast experience to produce yet another clear round in a demanding 42.82, to really put pressure on the five riders to follow, including London Olympic champion Steve Guerdat.

“I did not go mad but I did enough,” he said. Enough indeed. Because only one other of the contenders went clear. That was Sweden’s Peder Fredricsson in 43.35 to take silver. Canada’s Eric Lamaze took bronze with four late faults in 42.09.

One can only hope that Nick will make it to Dublin again next year so that we can all hail him as the big star he is.

PENTATHLON

Of all the equestrian-related sports affiliated to Horse Sport Ireland our Pentathlon Olympic entry has led the way with two top 10 finishes from Natalya Coyle in seventh and Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe in eighth. Coached by John Ledingham, both delivered clear show jumping rounds to help them climb the leader board. “I gave it everything,” said Coyle, as she returned to her home at Corbalton near Tara in Co Meath.

Her excellent swim along with that clear over the fences boosted her total score to 1325 – some 47 behind the Australian winner Chloe Esposito. “The final run really hurt but I was determined not to be passed,” she added.

Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe’s best scores came in shooting and show jumping and this brought him to a total of 1457 just 22 points behind Russia’s winner Aleksander Lusun. Coming into the final run and shoot he was standing 15th behind the leader but some excellent work under pressure had him climb all of seven places to eighth. “Having my mates to cheer me at the finish was priceless,” said the 24-year-old Kilkenny man.