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Britain takes gold with Star triumph

Posted August 21, 2008 19:06:00

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson have secured a fourth gold for Britain at the Olympic regatta by winning the Star class title after a tense medal race.

Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada took silver and Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden won bronze in the final race of the regatta.

Both finished level on 53 points with the Brazilians securing silver after finishing ahead of the Swedes in the decisive medal race.

Loof and Ekstrom began the day in first place but with just a two-point cushion over the British pair, meaning whoever finished ahead would probably take gold.

There was minimal distance between both boats for the first half of the race.

Percy and Simpson then found enough speed on the final leg to come in fifth, while the Swedes floundered on the left side of the course to trail in 10th, losing the silver medal.

Percy won gold in the Finn dinghy in 2000 and was sixth in the Star in Athens along with Steve Mitchell. He joined forces with Simpson last year.

Britain finished the Qingdao regatta as the most successful sailing nation for the third straight Games.

-Reuters

Tags: sport, olympics-summer, other-sports, sailing, china, united-kingdom, england

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