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Britain rules waves with two more medals
Kiran Randhawa and Shekhar Bhatia in Beijing21 Aug 2008
Britain took gold and silver in the water today with sailors and a swimmer scooping up medals.
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson came first in the men's Keelboat Star class at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre.
Team GB narrowly missed out on another gold when swimmer David Davies veered off course in the final stages of his 10km open water race.
Their victories take Britain's medal tally to an impressive 39, with 17 golds, 11 silvers and 11 bronze medals.
Percy, 31, from Southampton, started sailing at the age of four when his family decided to take up a sport they could enjoy together.
Chertsey-born team-mate Simpson, also 31, who is known as Bart, started sailing at six with his father.
Percy said after their victory in stormy conditions: "It is such a relief. We have worked so hard to get this gold medal. We are overjoyed."
A new photograph of him today shows him holding a Union Jack with his torso painted gold and emblazoned with red white and blue words.
With the medal, Team GB have surpassed the five they won in the Sydney and Athens regattas, when they were also top of the sailing medal ranking.
It is Percy's second Olympic sailing gold medal - he won the Finn class at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. He began sailing as a child in an Optimist dinghy, turned professional in 1998 and within two years was victorious in Sydney. As a result of that gold medal, he received an MBE.
He changed classes for the Athens Games in 2004 and finished sixth. Simpson, who lives in Sherborne, Dorset, teamed up with Percy last year and their win represents his first medal at his first Games.
Swimmer Davies, 23, was in the lead throughout his gruelling 10km open water race at Shunyi Lake, only to lose his position in the final 100 metres as he zig-zagged.
He came in 1.5 seconds behind Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden, a former leukaemia sufferer who has been compared to Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.
Davies finished facing the wrong direction and was carried from the lakeside on a stretcher. He said he was delirious after failing to take on water or food during the two-hour race.
Davies's silver medal completes a fine performance in the open water event for Britain - Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten won silver and bronze in the women's race yesterday.
He said: "It's going to take a while for it to sink in. But it's a proud moment for me. The final section was a blur. I was delirious but the stretcher at the end was a bit mad. I just wanted to lie down and have a sleep."
Davies, from Barry in Wales, later got involved in a fracas with a Chinese official. As he spoke to the press, officials tried to steer him towards the medal ceremony. He took offence at being manhandled and turned to one official, saying: "Will you shut up please!" After further harassment, he threw the contents of his water bottle at the female official.
His opponent Van der Weijden was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2001 but recovered and began swimming faster than ever. He now commits a large portion of his time to raising awareness for the disease.
Davies said of him: "That guy is an absolute legend. He's a great guy. He's a really tough competitor, his story is amazing and one that can inspire people. It's like a Lance Armstrong story. What he has achieved is phenomenal."
