Olympic sailing: Sweden takes star gold as Britain squeezed out

London, Aug 5 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The Swedish crew of Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen took Olympic sailing gold in the star class Sunday, winning the medal race as their British rivals Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson failed to finish high enough to deny the Swedes gold.

An Olympic title for Percy and Simpson, the 15th-ranked crew in the world, would have been a surprise against the Swedish No. 1 pair, and the British crew fell to second in the overall standings after they were passed by the United States and Brazil late in the race, finishing eighth.

"We knew the other guys were under more pressure and stress than us, so we really had nothing to lose," Loof said.

"It was a dream come true. We were happy for the silver but the gold came instead."

Simpson said that failing to win gold came as a blow.

"We are very frustrated right now, but proud," he said, while Percy said the result was "personally very painful."

Bronze went to Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.

The medal race in the Finn class is later Sunday.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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