Olympics

Jo Aleh certainly knows her history. Her country has won medals in the windsurfing in recent memory, but as the Kiwi 470 gold medallist pointed out today: “New Zealand hasn’t won a ‘sit down’ sailing medal since 1992....”

Australia became the most successful sailing nation at the Olympic Regatta after Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page secured gold ahead of GBR in the men's 470. Then it was New Zealand's turn for gold, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie winning the medal race of the women's 470, with Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark having to settle for silver, with the Dutch team taking bronze. The Olympic Regatta is nearly over, bar the women's match racing, as Justin and Andy look back at today's light-wind drama....

Eight years ago in Athens, Joe Glanfield had wrapped up an Olympic silver medal with a race to spare. He was sailing in the men’s 470 with helmsman Nick Rogers and if they played their cards right against the Americans in the final race, a gold medal might even come their way. But it didn’t work out that way.....

Sailing never gets any coverage in the national newspapers, particularly not a tabloid 'red top' paper like The Sun. But with Justin away with his bucket and spade on Weymouth beach, Andy asks The Sun's reporter Bob Harris why Olympic sailing has finally caught the imagination of the general public. Listen out too for Kate Laven of The Daily Telegraph who gatecrashes the interview....

With gold and silver already wrapped up by Australia and NZ (training partners, by the way), all the excitement in the 49er finale focused on which of five teams would take bronze....

The Danes won a tense battle for bronze in the 49er Medal Race in the lightest winds yet seen in Weymouth since the start of the Olympic Regatta. Justin and Andy discuss the 49er race, the match race that's in store between GB and NZ in the women's 470 a couple of days from now, and the failure of the USA to win a single medal at this Olympiad. The winner of the most sailing medals in the history of the modern Games, the last American hope vanished with the surprise exit of Anna Tunnicliffe's match racing team at the quarter final stage....

So much going on today, even if the racing schedule is starting to thin out in Weymouth. Here’s a flavour of what I found out chatting to various sailors, coaches and hangers-on around the Olympic centre....

Controversy surrounded the Medal Races for the RS-X windsurfing today, and no, it wasn’t the presence of British prime minister David Cameron. Zofia Noceti-Klepacka had won the bronze medal but then found herself being protested by the Ukrainian sailor - for the most bizarre of reasons. Questions too about the Australian 49er. Justin and Andy dig behind the headlines in Weymouth....

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate, makes a royal visit to Weymouth today and feels the weight of Ben Ainslie’s golden gong. But it was Ben’s girlfriend Marit Bouwmeester who was in the thick of the action in a humdinger of a medal race to decide the Radials, while Tom Slingsby won Australia’s first gold of the regatta, although there are others on the way....

Australia are coming on strong, and threaten to topple the mighty Team GB from their perch as the pre-eminent sailing team in the world. Tom Slingsby wrapped up Australia’s first gold of the regatta, but his mates in the 49er Nathan Outteridge and Tom Slingsby sealed 49er gold with a Medal Race to spare, as did the Kiwis for silver.

Wow, what a day! Mine started with an early morning interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Weymouth beach, and I was surprised to find Giles Scott already there. Giles, winner of just about every major Finn regatta including last year’s World Championship, but not yet an Olympian, must have been finding it tough watching this week’s racing.

Never given to exaggeration, Justin and Andy hesitate to use the word 'historic'. But if you're not going to use it today, the day Ben Ainslie became the most decorated Olympic sailor of all time, when are you going to use it?