Britain secure double gold

Ainslie (pictured) kept his cool in choppy seas to claim his third successive Olympic gold.

The 31-year-old, needing to finish no worse than six boats behind Zach Railey in the medal race to take gold, coasted to victory while the American was sixth.

Railey won silver and Frenchman Guillaume Florent grabbed bronze.

Ainslie won a silver medal as a teenager on his Games debut in the Laser class in 1996. He won Laser gold four years later in Sydney and gold again in Athens in 2004 after switching to the heavier Finn dinghy.

Ainslie said: "It felt like it would never come but there was great breeze and to win the race as well, I am a happy man. Conditions have been really tough, the light winds have been a real strength of will but today was a complete turnaround.

"You take each Games as it comes. Each one has been tough and we'll see what happens in the future but I've enjoyed every minute of my Olympic sailing career, I've been very lucky. The draw of 2012 and racing on your home waters is huge. It's a long way away but if I've got a chance to be there and do well, I'd love to do it."

Earlier on Sunday, the British trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, containing two of the gold medallists from Athens, produced a composed performance to win a medal race showdown for gold in the Yngling.

Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merrel Witteveen of the Netherlands took the sillver.

"Words cannot put any kind of meaning on it. Job done," said skipper Ayton, who along with Webb also won Yngling gold four years ago.

Webb said she had been close to tears when their boat was towed close to the main breakwater in front of flag-waving British supporters.

"That's the time that it hit home that we have done something pretty special," she said.

The Dutch team placed fifth on Sunday to claim silver with the Greek trio of Sofia Bekatorou, Sofia Papadopoulou and Virginia Kravarioti winning bronze.

Ayton and Webb triumphed in Athens along with Shirley Robertson, but then split with their former skipper and pipped Robertson's new team to win selection for these Games.

"You cannot describe what Sarah and I have been through for the last four years, and two for Pippa," added Ayton. "It has been incredible."

Heading into the medal race, the Dutch team had won three of the eight races completed in the opening series, while the British women had failed to take the gun but were more consistent with six fourth-place or better finishes.

But Ayton and her team saved their best for last, leading to the first mark and only once relinquishing their lead to the German boat before pulling away for victory.

The British trio finished on 24 points overall, with the Dutch on 33 and the Greeks on 48.

Denmark'sJonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen have to wait until Monday for a decision on a race committee protest against them keeping their Olympic sailing 49er gold medal.

The committee lodged the protest on grounds the Danes had borrowed the eliminated Croatian team's boat for the medal race on Sunday after their own mast broke on the way to the start.

An international jury sat to hear the protest on Sunday evening but adjourned until Monday.

Warrer and Ibsen, leading their nearest rivals by 11 points, had returned to the dock to swap boats before heading back to the startline just ahead of the race deadline.

Fierce gusts and churning seas contributed to a race of thrills and spills, nearly all of the 10-strong fleet capsizing at some point and two boats failing to finish.

The Danes trailed in seventh, nearly 12 minutes behind winners Iker Martinez and Xavier Fernandez but enough to deny the Spanish defending champions gold by three points.

Until the jury rules, Martinez and Fernandez have provisionally won the silver with German brothers Jan Peter Peckolt and Hannes Peckolt in bronze position.

The gold medal position changed hands several times during the race.

First Italians Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello capsized when in gold position, then Australians Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin had the title in their grasp until they too suffered the same fate 200 metres from the finish line.

The pair righted their damaged boat but capsized again and drifted over the finish line, their place on the podium gone.

"After the first capsize, we'd damaged so much, the boat was trashed - it looked like we'd just sailed across the Atlantic," said Austin.

Dane Paul Elvstrom, who won four golds between 1948 and 1960, is the most successful Olympic sailor.