Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia compete during the 470 Men Medal Race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games sailing event at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, an-Olympic co-host city in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2008. The Australian pair won the gold medal.[Xinhua]

Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia celebrate after the 470 Men Medal Race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games sailing event at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, an-Olympic co-host city in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2008. The Australian pair won the gold medal.[Xinhua]

Australian pair Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page finally had Olympic gold to complete their extensive medal collection as they stormed to the 470 men's gold medal at the Olympic Sailing Regatta here on Monday.

They had already secured the gold medal after pulling out a 22-point lead following the final three races of the men's 470. However that did nothing to dull their competitive edge today. They took lead around every mark to win the medal race with 44 points overall and pocketed Australia's first medal in sailing since 2000 Sydney.

The Australian duo proved its dominance right from the beginning of the medal race, rounding the first mark with a 12-second advantage over France. The distance was narrowed by the second mark when the France was only five second behind.

The third mark, however, witnessed France drop to the 6th, while Australian crew still maintained its first position, leading Spain with eight-second advantage. They kept the momentum and crossed the finishing line first, securing the first gold medal for Australia at Qingdao Olympic sailing center.

"This is our first Olympic medal. We have won five world championships before. We waited for a long time for this medal. All the efforts that we put in finally paid off and we got what we waited for," said 36-year-old Page.

The Australian team came to Qingdao with "unfinished business" after going to Athens four years ago as one of the hot favourites but returning empty-handed.

"We sailed stable and conservatively throughout this regatta and we tried to stay in single digit numbers. At the end we did better than we had hoped," said skipper Wilmot, 28.

During a glittering career they have won three World Championships and titles at every major regatta in Europe and Australia along with countless other medals.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield from Britain took the silver medal, finishing 3rd in the medal race with 75 points.

"It's unbelievable. It's really a pleasure to get a medal. We did everything we could to win," said Rogers from Britain. They took the third medal for Britain at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center.

His teammate Glanfield said "we were second-last when rounding the first weather mark. but we just told ourselves to be cautious about what we were doing. Today we were quite lucky with the conditions."

The bronze medal went to French pair Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset with 78 points.

"We're very happy today because we achieved our goal of getting a medal of any colour. We made some mistakes in the last race and we would have won a medal of another colour," said Charbonnier.

"I am going to call my wife first, who is pregnant. I will be a father next February, so this medal is a perfect gift for my new baby," said Bausset.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2008)