A grand time

The 2008 Olympics started with a vacuous storm over Code 0s in the Tornado class and finished in a thumpingly good finale in a brown rolling sea and fresh winds.

In between, Britain won the first and last gold medals of the 11 events, starting with Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson executing another beautifully managed championship based on confidence and conservatism whose foundation was speed and rock-solid boathandling, and ending with Iain Percy roaring back to his Sydney form to win the Stars with Andrew Simpson.

Britain won six medals including the Yngling, Finn (Ben Ainslie), Laser (Paul Goodison) and Star golds, plus a second successive 470 silver for Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield and an RS:X Bronze for Bryony Shaw. Nick Dempsey fell from a top three place in his RS:X medal race. A remarkable corporate performance as British sailors contested the Medal Race in every class. It was Britain's third successive Games at the top of the heap, keeping the primary threat, Australia, at bay. Some 18 nations won medals, one down from Athens. Any medal is an outstanding achievement but particularly eye-catching was Ben Ainslie, whose four medals and third gold puts him alongside Jochen Schumann and Valentin Mankin... one gold behind Paul Elvstrøm.

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