THE best successes are often the most unexpected and few saw Nick Dempsey converting fourth place into a medal on another hot day on the Saronic Gulf, when the deep blue water was troubled by only the lightest of breezes. But the young windsurfer from Weymouth produced the race of his life yesterday to snatch a bronze medal in the men’s Mistral class and the Great Britain sailing team was celebrating once again.
Dempsey’s achievement took Britain’s medal haul in sailing to five from 11 classes and made them easily the most successful sailing nation in Athens when judged on the total of medals won. It is the second Games in succession that Britain have won five medals, having taken three golds and two silvers in Sydney.
Dempsey, 24, who is to marry Sarah Ayton, a gold medal-winner in the Yngling keelboat, later this year, went into his final race ten points behind Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, the Greek local hero, knowing that all he could do was sail to the limit and hope that those ahead of him in the overall standings faltered. Matters were out of his control and it looked a big task to make the podium, but he did exactly what he had asked of himself, leading the fleet all the way round the course and going on to complete his third win of the 11-race series.
Ricardo Santos, of Brazil, who went into the race in gold-medal position, performed very poorly, finishing seventeenth, which dropped him from first to fourth. Thus the three immediately behind him were promoted, with Gal Fridman becoming Israel’s first Olympic champion in any sport and Kaklamanakis taking the silver by only one point from Dempsey.
For a desperate few minutes as he sailed back to the Agios Kosmas marina, Dempsey, who thought that he had missed out on a medal when he finished, wondered whether this was to be one of the worst days of his life, but it was transformed when he got ashore and a team-mate confirmed that he had finished third. “When he told me it was bronze it was pretty amazing really,” an exhausted Dempsey said. “I knew it was going to be a slim chance . . . it’s just great.
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“I’ve worked so hard over the past four years,” he said, reflecting on the long road from Sydney, where he was devastated to finish sixteenth. “I think windsurfing is the hardest of all the classes — it’s just so physically demanding and the training is so hard. In Sydney I had high expectations and being young I knew I was good enough to finish in the top five, but I never had the all-round game that I’ve got now and that’s the difference.”
Dempsey said that he and Ayton had dreamt of winning medals together and that she had often joked that they might return to their home in Dorset as Olympic heroes and tour Weymouth in an open-top bus — something that might now take place. He admitted that it had been difficult watching Ayton win last week knowing that he still had it all to do and he revealed that she gave him a good- luck horseshoe before he went out to race yesterday.
The pair have not decided exactly when they will marry, but even as he celebrated yesterday, Dempsey was looking forward to tying the knot with the golden girl he fell in love with when both were competing at a world championship event in South Africa in 1998. “I’m sure our marriage will outweigh the specialness of today,” Dempsey said.
In the Star class, Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell are still struggling to do themselves justice in the predominantly light winds they have faced. Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira, of Brazil, have sailed a masterful regatta, apparently able to read even the most subtle and unpredictable windshifts, and lead comfortably after eight races. The Britons are down in sixth, but all is not lost as they are still only four points behind Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter, of the United States, in third position, with three races to come. Percy and Mitchell will be praying for more breeze between now and Saturday.
On the Gulf today, Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, Britain’s 49er crew, sail their final race knowing that they are guaranteed at least a bronze medal. Gold looks a long shot, but silver is well within their compass.
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WHERE THEY STAND
OPEN DOUBLE-HANDED DINGHY, 49ER: Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, third after 15 of 16 races.
MEN’S KEELBOAT, STAR: Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, sixth after 8 of 11 races.
OPEN MULTIHULL, TORNADO: Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley, thirteenth after 8 of 11 races.