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Paul Goodison won Great Britain's 13th gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday, claiming sailing's Laser title.

The 30-year-old became the third British winner of the sailing regatta at Qingdao, thwarting the hopes of Swede Rasmus Myrgren - the only man who could have denied him gold in the medal race.

Myrgren had to win and hope Goodison finished last of the 10 boats to reverse their positions, but the British sailor left nothing to chance.

He became embroiled in a 'match race' with his rival in the early stages, forcing Myrgren to the back of the field by sticking to him like glue as the starting hooter sounded.

Goodison, who agonisingly finished fourth in Athens four years ago, was happy to see the rest of the fleet head off into the distance - that was good enough for him and his gold medal hopes.

Tactics

The British and Swedish boats were at the back of the field at the first mark, with Goodison keeping his rival behind him.

By the time the second mark had been reached, with the New Zealand boat out in front, the Briton was some three and a half minutes back - with Myrgren even further in arrears.

At that stage only a drop in the light winds - and a subsequent race abandonment - could prevent Goodison from taking gold and thankfully for him that did not happen.

Goodison's tactics were not good news for Myrgren though - despite starting the day second overall, he slipped out of the medals to finish sixth.

Goodison was delighted to put his Athens misery behind him.

"It just feels fantastic to come in with a medal this time and the fact that it's gold is just amazing," he said.

"I always knew it was going to be a bit of an up and down regatta. I didn't start great in the first race but bounced straight back and then from there I was always within reaching distance and sailed a superb day yesterday to give myself the cushion I needed for today.''

Sorry

The Briton did have some words of solace for Myrgren after denying him a medal.

"I really feel for Rasmus," he added. "I think that if the winds here had been a little bit stronger and the racing had been normal then I would have just sailed my race because I would have been more confident that I wasn't going to lose.

"But because the wind was so light and so random, the only way to guarantee winning was to do what I did.

"My heart feels for him, I feel sorry for him, but at the end of the day you have to do what's best for you."

New Zealand won the medal race, but the runners-up finish of Slovenia's Vasilij Zbogar was enough for him to climb above Myrgren to clinch the silver.

Italy's Diego Romero finished third to secure bronze.

In the women's equivalent event, the Laser Radial, gold went to British-born American Anna Tunnicliffe.

Born in Doncaster before emigrating to Ohio 12 years later, Tunnicliffe overcame a false start in the medal race - having to return to the start line - to take the title ahead of Lithuania's Gintare Volungeviciute.

Tunnicliffe stormed through the field from ninth to second which was enough to give her the overall victory.

China's Xu Lijia took the bronze - her country's first ever Olympic medal in a sailing boat.

Briton Penny Clark was seventh in the medal race, but that was only good enough for 10th overall.

Team GB still have a good shout of a medal in the windsurfing too, with Nick Dempsey still in second place overall after finishing fifth in his last race, while Bryony Shaw is in third.