Olympic champions Hannah Mills, Giles Scott and Stuart Bithell are among eight British sailors to call time on their Team GB career.
Team GB finished atop the medal table at Tokyo 2020, taking three golds, a silver and a bronze to end number one for the fifth time in six Games.
There will now be a changing of the guard in the history-making team with
Mills, Scott, Bithell, Luke Patience, Ali Young, Charlotte Dobson, Chris Grube and Ben Saxton all retiring.Mills became the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time this summer when she defended her Rio 2016 gold medal in the 470 class alongside Eilidh McIntyre.
“It was a difficult decision and yet also an easy one,” said Mills, who also secured a silver medal at London 2012.
“What made it hard was just how incredible the Olympic Games is – it’s like nothing else on Earth.
“As an athlete who’s dreamed of going to the Games my whole life it’s something that is quite difficult to walk away from. But in terms of where I’m at in life and what I want to do next, it was a bit easier.”
Scott steps away from the Olympic scene as king of the Finn, which will not feature at Paris 2024, having claimed contrasting gold medals in Rio and Tokyo.
“If I’m brutally honest it feels just fine,” said Scott.
“I’ve been doing it for so long and have put so much into it, and I’m lucky to have been successful, and it’s time to do other things.
“I’ve absolutely loved my Olympic sailing but I feel like it’s been a chapter in a bigger book. I’m sad to be leaving but for sure it’s time to go.”
Bithell took gold in the 49er with Dylan Fletcher, Team GB's first in that boat class, adding to the silver medal he won with Luke Patience in the men’s 470 at London 2012.
“I guess I’ve hung my boots up for now,” said the 35-year-old. “I’ve done three cycles and it’s time to move on to other areas of the sport.
“It’s nice to stop here at the top – it would take a lot of hard work to regroup and go again for Paris. It feels like the right time. And of course, I’m getting old!”
Patience was just 25 when he won a silver medal alongside Bithell in the men’s 470 class at London 2012.
The charismatic Scot teamed up with Grube for Rio 2016 after Elliot Willis was diagnosed with cancer and the pair continued together to Tokyo, finishing fifth.
READ MORE: Dear Me, by Luke Patience
“It’s been so hard to come to the decision because there’s so much passion for what I do,” said Patience. “It’s the end of a long, wonderful 17-year journey.”
Young is Britain’s greatest ever Laser Radial sailor and took her chance to show that at three Olympic Games.
“My fondest memories from the Games centre around the spirit and energy the sailing team has, especially out in Tokyo,” she said.
After narrowly missing out on Olympic selection for two cycles running, Dobson switched to the 49erFX skiff and competed with Sophie Anderson in Rio and Saskia Tidey in Tokyo.
“I genuinely felt in the couple of years before Tokyo that Saskia [Tidey] and I had given ourselves the best chance of winning a medal,” she said.
“We’d worked with some incredible coaches and support staff, and had some amazing sailors in our training groups. When you’re proud of the campaign you put together you have to accept the result at the end.”
After switching from the 470 class to the Nacra 17, Saxton was picked for Team GB at the Rio 2016 Olympics alongside crew Nicola Groves, placing ninth.
“I’m really excited about the future, but I will remember my time with the British team fondly,” he said.
Sportsbeat 2021
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