2016 Rio Summer Olympics games: Great Dane Van Rijsselberghe wins men’s gold

In the men’s RS:X event, gold went to Danish windsurfer Dorian Van Rijsselberghe. He had confirmed his position at the top of the podium by winning the medal race. Pre-event favourite Nick Dempsey of Great Britain had to settle for silver, as 27-year-old Frenchman Pierre Le Coq took bronze.

"I'm very happy,” said the Dane on clinching the title. “We had a wonderful week sailing and today it was only a kind of show, but I'm glad that I pulled off another first place and another win. It's never easy, but when you make it look easy, that’s always good! It's a huge thing of course – and after all of the support [friends and family] put in, they can see it has paid off.”
Meanwhile, Dempsey, a silver medallist in London four years earlier, and the most medalled windsurfer in Olympic history, shrugged off suggestions that anything less than gold was a disappointment.

“No, never! You know I’ve trained hard over the last four years and I’ve given it everything I had. I couldn’t ask anything more of myself. I was only good enough for second here and I’m very happy.”

He also heaped praise on the organisers of the Rio Games. “Every Olympics is different. London Olympics was special, it was a home Olympics, but this place has got some special memories for me. The weather has been fantastic, the racing conditions unbelievable. We’ve had a superb sailing Olympic Games,” he enthused.

Bronze medallist Le Coq described winning bronze as “a life achievement. I was dreaming about this since a long time ago and I just want to enjoy it and celebrate it with my family and friends.”