Sailors scoop 17th gold

Record fourth gold for GB at regatta

Last updated: 21st August 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Sailors scoop 17th gold

Iain Percy (right) and Andrew Simpson

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Great Britain's incredible run of success at the Beijing Olympics continued, as sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won a gold medal in the Star class.

Team GB has now won 17 golds, with a record four coming in the sailing regatta.

The silver medal in the Star class went to Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil, with the bronze going to Sweden's Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom.

The British pair came home in fifth place in their medal race, but with Sweden finishing behind them it was enough to secure the gold medal in the final event of the sailing discipline.

Britain won six medals in total at the sailing competition, making them the top country in the regatta.

Athens surpassed

With the medal, Team GB surpassed the five medals that they won in Sydney and Athens, when they were also top of the sailing medal ranking.

The British pair trailed two points behind the Swedes at the start of the double-points medal race and only needed to finish ahead of their rivals to snatch the gold.

It was the British boat that enjoyed the better start after blocking the Swedes behind the committee boat at the start line but Loof and Ekstrom battled back to round the first mark in fifth, one spot and three seconds in front of Percy and Simpson.

But the British had better position on the first leeward run and moved up to second at the halfway mark, with a seven-second advantage over the Swedes.

Upwind beat

Knowing that they just needed to hold off the Swedes to clinch the gold, Percy and Simpson covered Loof and Ekstrom on the upwind beat, slipping back to seventh but increasing the gap over the Swedes, who had dropped to last place.

They moved up to fifth at the finish, 44 seconds behind winners Poland, to seal yet another victory on the water for Team GB.

Britain finished on 45 points, eight in front of the Brazilians and Swedes. The South Americans took silver by virtue of their better result in the medal race.