PRIDE OF THE CLYDE
Sailor Eilidh Mcintyre follows in father’s footsteps to win Olympic gold
SHE was inspired by her father who won gold at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 after honing his skills at the Helensburgh Sailing Club on the Clyde where he remains honorary chairman.
Now, Eilidh Mcintyre has followed in the footsteps of her father Mike after she won an Olympic sailing gold yesterday in Tokyo.
Ms Mcintyre and Hannah Mills clinched the final sailing gold of the Tokyo Games in the women’s 470 yesterday.
In doing so, Mills became the most successful female Olympic sailor ever which she said “didn’t feel real”.
Mcintyre said that her father, who won gold in 1988 in the Star class, had been “my inspiration my entire life” and that his medal had hung on the wall opposite her bedroom door growing up.
She said: “I’ve always dreamed of having one of these and here I am and I just can’t believe it. It’s been such a fight and such a long journey and it feels like 25 years of dreaming.”
Mills teamed up with 27-year-old Mcintyre after she rang her and told her she was the person to help her get a second title.
They began sailing as a pair in 2017 and won the World Cup Series in Santander in Spain in their first race together.
“The most nerve-racking phone call? Maybe,” said Mcintyre with a laugh.
“I knew I wanted to get Hannah back and I am so glad she is here. It’s not been the journey either of us expected, it was hard to persuade her back, let alone do another year. It’s just phenomenal.
“This is what we came for. We weren’t after anything else. That is what I said in the phone call: ‘I want to win gold with you and nothing else is going to do’ – and here we are and that’s wicked.”
“Hopefully, we are inspiring the next generation of women’s sailors and that is as important to us as the medal, getting people out on the water to enjoy the incredible sport.”
In the medal race, Mills and
Mcintyre needed only to finish in the top seven to secure gold. They quickly fell in behind Switzerland and remained second going into the final leg. The pair dropped down to fifth after rounding the final mark but had done enough to extend their lead at the top to 16 points.
Their fall-back at the close of the race prompted a formal protest from France, who dropped from second into the bronze medal position after Poland overtook Britain at the last mark.
A 40-minute wait ensued until the protest was dismissed.
Mills said: “That was unexpected from our side. We want to race our race and to win a gold medal, that’s all we really cared about. Obviously emotions are always high, it’s pretty stressful, pretty hot out there.
“They came up to us a while ago, apologised, and said they completely respect what has happened. It’s all good, we have massive respect for them, they are amazing competitors.”
After the protest was dismissed, the French duo were confirmed in bronze behind Poland’s Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar.
Mills, who was a flag-bearer for Team GB during the opening ceremony alongside the rower Mohamed Sbihi, won a silver medal at London 2012 and then gold in Rio in 2016 before her thenpartner, Saskia Clark, retired from Olympic racing. The gold puts Team GB clear of Australia at the top of the sailing medal table with three golds, one silver and one bronze, their second most successful sailing medal haul behind Beijing 2008.