BBC Sport: Olympics blog

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson's gold medal was the perfect prize to handover to the next Olympic sailing regatta in Weymouth 2012.

Great Britain's medal target in sailing was four - to achieve that in golds with an additional silver and bronze was beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

Percy and Simpson's victory in the Star class was pure gold in every sense of the word. The lifelong friends showed great resilience to squeeze through an extremely testing medal race to secure first place.

"We had to fight every inch of the way" said Percy, who's now a double Olympic gold medallist.

For Andrew "Bart" Simpson this was also the culmination of a long and winding Olympic campaign. He was Percy's training partner in Sydney, and again for Ben Ainslie in Athens. Bart is now an Olympic champion in his own right.

Paul Goodison's gold medal drew to a close a stunning campaign - unbeaten over three years at the Olympic venue, and in his mind there was only going to be one winner.

The Sheffield United fan had focused his training towards winning this event, after missing out on a medal four years ago in Athens by a solitary point.

The Laser class has a history of mishap and upset - you can be the best in the world ahead of the regatta, but still go home empty handed. That was never an option for Goody.

Great Britain's Yngling gold medal was the result of a perfectly executed four-year plan by three girls and their coach. Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson developed themselves into an invincible unit and their victory came as a surprise to no-one, least of all themselves.

There's little more than can be said about Ben Ainslie. At 31, he's already a sailing great who can go on to achieve immortal status.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield's silver medal was won from almost nowhere. In reality it was their gold.

The pair started their series slowly and a medal of any colour looked out of reach, but these two are seasoned campaigners and best of friends. They know how to dig themselves out a hole.

Rogers and Glanfield are disparate characters who spark off one another to produce a superbly strong team, one of the strongest in the sport.

Bryony Shaw's bronze medal was a superb effort in the ultimately physical class. She was one girl who wanted her medal more than anything - her post race reaction said it all.

Her diminutive frame was required to perform the equivalent of two 10,000m races each day. Physical preparation and psychological strength allowed her compete to the very end of the regatta ensuring a valuable medal for the team.