Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson on Thursday won the Star gold medal at the Olympic Sailing Regatta, bagging the country's fourth gold at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center.

Amid the pouring rain and 12-15 knots of wind, the medal race was surely nail-biting, as eight teams had a chance of taking medals because only 18 points separated those between third and eighth place in the preliminaries.

The leading Sweden pair started the double-points medal race with a fifth finish by the first mark, leaving his nearest rival Britain in the sixth. The second mark saw Britain battle back to the second and Sweden lie the third, cutting seven seconds behind.

Britain maintained its advantage over Sweden till the finishing line, placing fifth in the medal race and clinching the win with 45 points overall.

Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada from Brazil took the silver medal with 53 points. They led the first two marks and finished third in the medal race.

The bronze medal went to Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom from Sweden. They shared the same 53 points with Brazil.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)