HE'S won the highest accolade his sport has to offer.

Yet winning individual Olympic gold and Great Britain team silver on Shear L'Eau in the three-day event is by no means the culmination of a successful career for Leslie Law.

Fresh from his Athens achievement in the summer, the 39-year-old has a whole wish-list of titles he would love to add to his CV in the future.

"I think there's plenty left," he said. "I have been second, third, fourth and fifth at Badminton, so number one would be quite nice to say the least.

"It would be lovely to win the majors -- the Lexingtons the Badmintons, European Championships, Burghley. If I could tick those off one by one over the next few years it would very nice."

And there would appear to be no reason why the Hereford-born rider, who last month finally received his medal, upgraded from silver after Germany were disqualified, can't scale those heights.

After all, he is the Olympic champion and prior to Athens he never entertained that thought, such, in his eyes, was the quality of the field.

Law added: "It's more than I could ever hope for and I'm just proud for the horse. He (Shear L'Eau) put in the performance of his lifetime.

"I'm very realistic going into competitions and while you've always got a chance you also have to look at the competition you're up against. While you're never satisfied unless you win, you've got to be realistic enough to appreciate that if the horse puts in its best performance, that's all you can ask for.

"Looking at Athens, the realistic result was a team gold medal. We were an extremely strong team but things didn't work out for us. As individuals went, I thought if we could put in a really good performance and some of the others fell by the wayside then an individual medal could be there but looking at the start of the field a gold medal looked a long way away."

Now, with his medal safely in his pocket and the competition season over, Law can at last try to take in what has been an amazing year.

As well as training for Athens, Law, and partner Trina, spent the winter moving into their Naunton home, near Upton-upon-Severn, and preparing the yard and stables for 22 horses.

"The last 10 to 12 months have been quite incredible really," Law said. "We only bought this place last November so we had a real project on our hands all winter because it was a little dairy farm and the house hadn't been lived in for two years.

"There's still a lot to do but doing that and the level of competition we had to do this year getting ready for the Olympics has been something else.

"How we fitted it all in, I honestly don't know. I think it's been through an awful lot of help from friends and Trina and her family have been absolutely fantastic doing things on the place while I've tried to concentrate on the Olympics. The team we've got here working for us have been very understanding with everything we've had to try and cram in since March."

So for Law, his sport is not just about the medals, it's a way of life.

"I enjoy riding and sharing my life with those horses, they're beautiful animals to work with and over the years you build a trust up with them," he said.

"They're the ones that inspire me and what drives me on. It can't totally revolve around the Olympics because you might not get there. If getting up in the morning was purely about the Olympics that's almost like putting all you eggs in one basket."

Law started riding at the age of 10 to compete with brother Graham and worked in a point-to-point yard after leaving school. The self-confessed Hereford United fan then spent two years in a US showjumping yard before eventually setting up on his own by renting some stables.

His first Olympic experience was in Atlanta in 1996 but he was unable to compete after his horse New Flavour got a stone bruise just 24 hours prior to the start.

That only made him more hungry and he was part of GB's team silver on Shear H20 at the Sydney Games four years later.

"It's been a long haul but you have to have a goal and focus and take it step by step," he added.

"Sometimes there are serious knocks but you've got to pick yourself up and dust yourself down and have the determination to keep chipping away and hope it comes off.

"Sometimes it doesn't and then you have years like this where finally it has."