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British sailor wins gold, 33 years after her father did the same

August 05, 2021 00:00:00


Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre celebrate their golds — AP

When Great Britain's Eilidh McIntyre was growing up, her father's Olympic sailing gold medal from the 1988 Seoul Games sparkled on display in a little golden cabinet just outside her bedroom, according to British daily The Daily Telegraph.

Whether she left for school, dinner or simply a glass of water, there was no missing the shiny prize glistening with family pride.

As a young, promising sailor herself, McIntyre dreamed of adding to the cabinet and continuing the family legacy since she was 11.

And 33 years since her father won in the star sailing category, McIntyre obtained a gold of her own alongside partner Hannah Mills in the women's 470 class on Wednesday.

Mills is the most successful female sailor in Olympic history, winning her second gold and third consecutive medal following another virtually flawless performance in Enoshima Harbour.

Partnered by Eilidh McIntrye, whose father Mike won an Olympic gold medal in the Star class in Seoul 33 years ago, Mills helmed the women's 470 boat to a hat-trick of medals following silver in London and then gold in Rio de Janeiro with Saskia Clark.

This new partnership was only formed in 2017 when Mills, who carried the flag for Team GB at the Tokyo opening ceremony 12 days ago, was approached by McIntrye and a new Olympic dream was born. They have since dominated the class, winning the World Championship in the same Japanese waters in 2019, before delivering a regatta here of unerring consistency.

The final medal race turned into something of a procession, with Mills and McIntyre starting off by keeping a careful eye on France and Poland, their nearest challengers, before reaching halfway in second. They later slipped back to fifth but still always in a commanding overall position.

France submitted a formal protest against GB after the race, alleging that GB and Poland had, in the closing stages, contrived to ensure Poland moved ahead of GB in the medal race to pip France for the silver but it was dismissed by organisers.

The decisive results had come on the penultimate day of sailing when their record of top three finishes in seven out of the 10 races paid dividends and all their main rivals were forced to count at least one sail outside the top 10. It suddenly meant a lead of 17 points which, barring any disaster in the final medal race, was unassailable for two sailors of their class.

Another sailing gold - the third in the space of two days - means that Team GB finish the regatta as the most successful single nation in the competition with five medals.


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