Mixed emotions for surfing pair

2:35pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

It was a day of mixed emotions for Great Britain at the Olympic sailing competition on Wednesday as Bryony Shaw delivered the country's first ever women's windsurfing medal but Nick Dempsey narrowly missed out in the men's RS:X event.

Shaw made history by coming home second in the women's RS:X medal race to claim a bronze and increase Team GB's medal haul in Qingdao to five.

Shaw was delighted to have weighed in with a bronze medal and said: "I'm just so happy. Thank you to everyone for supporting me."

She added: "It was such a hard race and such a hard week, and I'm just so happy - it's the best thing in the world."

However, there was heartbreak for Dempsey as he finished a disappointing seventh in the men's RS:X medal race to drop from second to fourth in the final standings.

The Athens bronze medallist entered the medal race with gold medal prospects, trailing one point behind leader Julien Bontemps of France and level with Tom Ashley of New Zealand.

But he struggled in a shortened race, which lasted less than 20 minutes, coming in seventh.

"It was all pretty close going into the first beat and I knew exactly where I had to be but with the race being just one lap, it was all a bit short and a bit rushed," said Dempsey.

"This week's been excellent really. I sailed brilliantly this week and it's just a shame that today went the way it did.

"Another day, it could have gone another way. Another race, another lap it could have been different but that's the way it goes and that's the Olympic Games."

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