Happy returns for Dempsey

GREAT BRITAIN’S Nick Dempsey has become the most decorated men’s Olympic windsurfer after winning silver yesterday. A day after turning 36, the most experienced member of the British sailing team secured their first medal of the regatta. Soon afterwards, it was confirmed that Giles Scott was guaranteed gold tomorrow in the men’s Finn class after opening an unassailable lead before the medal race. Dempsey himself merely needed to see through yesterday’s double-point men’s RS:X medal race to secure silver, with Holland’s Dorian van Rijsselberghe already out of reach at the top. It was the same one-two as four years ago and five-time Olympian Dempsey ended the regatta with a fourthplace finish on the stunning Pao de Acucar course. Finishing second to van Rijsselberghe again might have jarred with Dempsey, but his sons Oscar, three, and sevenyear-old Thomas were on hand to put a smile on his face. ‘Oscar wasn’t fussed,’ Dempsey said. ‘And Thomas said: “It’s OK Daddy, you have two silvers now which is the same as one gold”. In his eyes, it’s OK which is cool.’ Dempsey, who also won bronze at Athens in 2004, was thrilled with his piece of history. ‘It is amazing,’ he said. ‘It is awesome, something I am incredibly proud of. ‘I have been working for a long time, and it is very hard to stay at the top for that long.’ Dempsey hinted there was a slight chance he could continue on to Tokyo in four years’ time. ‘I am not sure I can do it again,’ he said. ‘But I would love to if I could.’ Scott, 29, finished eighth and second yesterday and leads by 24 points in the Finn. He can now emerge from four-time Olympic champion Sir Ben Ainslie’s shadow by winning gold.