SHOOTER Steve Scott bagged a historic Olympic medal last night after out-gunning fellow Brit Tim Kneale.

The 31-year-old tree surgeon from Battle took the bronze in the double trap after a gruelling day of competition in Rio.

He was surrounded by friends and family as he took to the podium - but there was one significant absence.

Martin Barker, Team GB's double trap coach, introduced Steve to the sport after he came to his Hertfordshire range as a teenager.

He has known Steve half his life and has been there for all the highs and lows.

But he had to watch yesterday's drama unfold from his home in Nuthampstead after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

He said: "I'm absolutely delighted. He shot so well under the pressure and I'm so pleased for him.

"I would have loved to have been there but my health has to come first.

"I had the option to go but it would have cost them thousands. I think it is better that money goes into a pot for the development of youngsters."

Recalling meeting Steve for the first time, the 61-year-old said: "I could tell he had it right from the start, he had that something special.

"It is difficult to describe, I'm afraid it's not very scientific but I just knew."

Steve - or Scotty as Martin knows him as - travelled to the Nuthampstead range countless times in those first few years as he excelled in the double trap.

Closer to home he did work experience at West Kent Shooting School where he put in the hard yards filling traps and making countless cups of tea.

The school gave him the opportunity to meet some of his shooting heroes and he soon caught the bug.

Martin said: "Early on he won the junior Europeans and the junior Worlds, he was something special.

"But he was just Scotty to us. I remember he used to come to the house and ask if he could take my son, who was just eight at the time, to the pub so he could play pool with someone. He's a great lad."

Given the limited funding made available for shooting, Steve had to find a job and became a tree surgeon in Battle.

But his sport has taken him all over the world.

Aged just 23, he was picked to go to the Beijing Olympics, which he describes as being something of an eye opener.

He shot well but was a long way off the best in the world, finishing 12th.

Following his return from China he got his head down and spent every spare minute on the range.

Martin said: "He is a real hard worker and very dedicated. When he has a goal he gets his head down and works at it. But then when he is off the range he can be a real joker, which is important I think. He has a great sense of humour."

The hard work paid off as Steve took gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

But there was disappointment two years later when he was not selected for his home games in London.

Martin said: "He was going through a tough time and there were lots of things going on, not least the politics in the team.

"But I think that has spurred him on to make Rio count."

He watched London at home as teammate Peter Wilson won gold in the men's double trap.

After the hysteria from 2012 died down, he decided he had to follow Peter's lead and asked if her could borrow his coach Ahmad Mohammad Hasher Al Maktoum.

Peter and Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai's ruling family, agreed and Steve hasn't looked back since.

He became Commonwealth champion in Glasgow in 2014, won at the Baku European Games in 2015 and then gold at the World Cup Final.

Martin said: "He has been shooting well and has been training hard. Over the last five weeks alone Steve and Tim (Kneale, who is also in the men's double trap) have probably used 30,000 to 40,000 shells."

He added: "He is a real tough person. He has great resilience and mental strength and I think that makes him the great shooter he is.

"I spoke to him the other day on the phone and told him to forget everything else and just go out there and do it. On his day he can beat anyone."