Let's get that out of the way. The bare facts are Nicholson, riding Spinning Rhombus last for New Zealand, could afford seven rails down and the team gold medal would be theirs.
The horse knocked down nine and gold became silver. Immediately afterwards Nicholson was phlegmatic, these things happen, that's horses for you, and so on. Away from the public eye, however, he was hurting badly.
"I think I've done well to come through that experience," he said from England. "Basically I lost the gold medal for the team. It was a pretty tough time. I realise to people back in New Zealand it wouldn't have looked great. And I don't blame them. But that's life isn't it?"
Life for the 18-year-old from Kihikihi in the Waikato was about heading to England and making his way as an eventer. First impressions? "I left New Zealand at the start of February in a blazing hot summer, arrived at Gatwick airport and it was snowing. I'd never been in snow before, it was freezing cold and I hated it."
But he had a horse to sell to fund the trip, and the ambition was strong.
"At that age you can have a dream and you think anything's possible. It definitely wasn't as easy as I thought it was, but I hung in there and things have turned out pretty good."
Nicholson got work at a racing stables in Chicester, Sussex, where he spent four years. "It wasn't what I was wanting, or expecting it to be, but I was enjoying it, learnt an awful lot, met a lot of people and things snowballed from there."
The ambition was strong, and gradually he came to enjoy the lifestyle. Success followed in time, to the point now where Nicholson has 24 horses at his stables in Marlborough, Wiltshire. It is pretty country, all rolling hills, and life is good for Nicholson. But, at 50, he insists he's still a Kiwi, even if work means he only gets back to New Zealand every couple of years. He likes that when he walks into his local pub and catches up with his old mates and school friends it's as if he's never been away.
Nicholson is yet to win Badminton - and he's contested it a record 31 times - but won Burghley in 1995 on Buckley Province and five years later on Mr Smiffy. Last year, Nicholson was second on 12-year-old Nereo.
Six times in seven years from 1995, a New Zealander won Burghley. Around then Todd won two of his four Badminton crowns; Tait was in his prime.
There were World Games medals. Golden days.
"That was an amazing time," Nicholson said. "It just shows how a bit of success can rub off on the rest of the team. We had Mark winning, then Blyth came along and he was a very competitive rider. He started winning and it made the rest of us want to raise our game ...
Todd and Tait temporarily retired, and there was a lull, at least partly because riders were aiming to fill third or fourth place in the NZ team rather than striving to win. But Nicholson likes what he's seeing heading to the Olympics.
He particularly rates Jonathan Paget "world class, a very naturally talented rider, very switched on".
