Mathew Belcher and William Ryan Win Gold For Australia

CREDIT: yachtandboat.com

Australian sailors Mathew Belcher and William Ryan performed their absolute best and worked their way to receiving the gold title.

Arriving in the race, the two already had a lead advantage of 20 points. But they pulled out their best moves and crossed that finish line before the rest of the competitors achieving a score of 23.

The two avoided disqualification in order to successfully reach that gold at Enoshima Yacht Harbour. 

They had also already won three preliminary races.

Belcher has now earned three Olympic medals, winning gold in London in 2012, and a silver in Rio in 2016.

"We just couldn't help ourselves. We were conservative at the start but then we had a bit of a sniff that we could get in a good position and thought, 'let's just go for it.' It was just such an amazing feeling," said Belcher.

"Just so proud. Australia just has had such success in sailing. To do it the last 10 years with Will, just over the moon. Just so happy to have the opportunity and to perform like we knew we could with everything else that has been happening the last few years, just so relieved we could get this medal."

Ryan has just earned his first Olympic gold medal saying, "We just didn't not want to win that last race and I think that almost meant as much to use then the rest of it. I think when we get it in our hands, e pretty special and it's nice to share it to so many people."

   Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom from Sweden took home second place with 45 points. Jordi Xammar and Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz took home third place with 55 points.