Percy and Simpson strike gold

3:13pm Thursday 21st August 2008

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson continued Britain's impressive sailing campaign when they struck gold in the Star class.

The 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.

It was Team GB's fourth gold medal - and sixth overall - of the sailing competition, making them the top country in the regatta.

The Swedes came home in 10th and last place to drop to the bronze medal position behind Brazil, who finished third in the race.

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 Fredrik Loof and Anders 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.

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.

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