By Ron Howells • Published: 03 Aug 2021 • 7:35
Team GB win sailing gold in the men's 49er class. image: Twitter
Team GB win 12th Tokyo Olympics sailing gold in the men’s 49er class at Enoshima Harbour.
Team GB have won sailing gold in the men’s 49er class. Britains Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell entered the final medal race in second, four points behind New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, however, victory for Fletcher and Bithell and third for New Zealand saw them claim the title.
The pair kept their cool in the scorching conditions of Enoshima Harbour to overtake the defending champions and two-time America’s Cup winners Pete Burling and Blair Tuke to take the gold.
It was Fletcher’s first Olympic medal after he finished sixth with Alain Sign in the same class in Rio, while Bithell took silver in the 470 class alongside Luke Patience at London 2012.
Until the very last moments of the race, it was still unclear whether the gold would go to as the British boat, who battled with the German pairing of Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel all the way to the line.
The medal was a huge boost to Team GB on a big day of sailing after Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey failed to climb into a medal position having finished 14th in their women’s 49er FX medal race.
After winning their first two races things fell apart as they earned 13-16 place positions in races seven to 10, they eventually finished in sixth place overall.
Emma Wilson won the team’s first sailing medal on Saturday with bronze in the women’s windsurfing.
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Ron actually started his working career as an Ophthalmic Technician- things changed when, during a band rehearsal, his amplifier blew up and he couldn’t get it fixed so he took a course at Birmingham University and ended up doing a degree course. He built up a chain of electronics stores and sold them as a franchise over 35 years ago. After five years touring the world Ron decided to move to Spain with his wife and son, a place they had visited over the years, and only bought the villa they live in because it has a guitar-shaped swimming pool!. Playing the guitar since the age of 7, he can often be seen, (and heard!) at beach bars and clubs along the length of the coast. He has always been interested in the news and constantly thrives to present his articles in an interesting and engaging way.
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