Iain
Percy and Andrew Simpson have won Star class
gold on a thrilling final day
of
the Beijing 2008 Olympic Regatta today, leaving
Britain’s sailors with their best
Olympic medal haul for 100 years.
Sydney 2000 Finn gold medallist Percy and
Simpson, making his Olympic debut,
went
into the race two points behind Swedes Freddie
Loof and Anders Ekstrom
but
with one eye also on Brazilians Robert Scheidt
and Bruno Prada behind them
in
third.
In
an absolute nail-biter, Percy and Simpson
executed a tactically perfect race, the
Swedes being forced to gybe on the first
downwind run and the Brits edging their
noses ahead, a position they refused to
relinquish for the rest of the race.
At
times, Scheidt and Prada, who had taken the race
to the rest of the fleet and built
a
big lead on the first lap, appeared to threaten
the gold, meaning Percy and Simpson
not
only had to stay ahead of the Swedes but also
finish in the top six.
But
as the Brazilians fell down the fleet, it became
a straight head-to-head between
Great Britain and Sweden and in a scintillating
sprint to the finish line, Percy and
Simpson surfed over the line in fifth place,
with the Swedes 11 seconds behind in
10th
for the gold to go to the Brits with a final
tally 45 points overall.
Speaking immediately after the race, Percy, who
also beat Loof to gold in Sydney,
said: “It was unbelievable, so special. We felt
good this morning, I knew we weren’t
going to bottle it and we didn’t. It’s been a
killer four years and I am so glad it’s behind
me.”
Simpson added: “I’m shocked and over-the-moon.
This week and this year have been
so
hard and there are no words to describe how
happy we are. For the last year,
everything has been focussed on this week, we’ve
worked so hard and it is just amazing.
We’ve pulled it back from the brink and it’s all
come good for us.”
Loof
and Ekstrom had to settle for bronze despite
finishing on the same overall points – 53 - as
Scheidt and Prada, the Brazilians snatching
silver on account of them finishing higher up
the
fleet in the medal race than the Swedes.
Percy and Simpson’s is Britain’s sixth sailing
medal of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with
Ben
Ainslie (Finn) and Yngling trio Sarah Ayton,
Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson winning gold
on
Sunday, Paul Goodison taking the top Laser prize
on Tuesday, Nick Rogers and
Joe
Glanfield clinching 470 men’s silver on Monday
and windsurfer Bryony Shaw claiming
bronze yesterday.
This surpasses the Brits’ medal total at the
past two Games in Athens and Sydney where
Britain won five medals apiece while the
sailors’ feat in Qingdao mirrors the
achievements
of
the British sailing team at the 1908 London
Games.
It
also means for the third successive Olympics,
Britain finishes the Regatta as the World’s
top
performing sailing nation.
Meanwhile, Leigh McMillan and Will Howden have
finished the Olympic Regatta in sixth
overall after romping to medal race victory.
The
pair went into the final medals’ showdown in
ninth position knowing that a medal was
out
of their reach.
But they ended their 2008 Olympics on a high,
taking the Spanish boat of Fernando Echavarri
and
Anton Paz Blanco before the second mark and
winning the race, 14 second aheads of the
Canada duo Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle.
Echavarri and Paz Blanco won the title with 44
points, Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS)
finished with silver on 49 and Santiago Lange
and Carlos Espinola (ARG) in third on 56.
McMillan and Howden finished on 68 points.