PROPELLED by a golden wind on a beautiful day on the Saronic Gulf, Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton sailed to glory in the Yngling keelboat class yesterday, claiming Great Britain’s first gold medal of the Olympic Games and securing Robertson’s place in sailing history.

As the trio crossed the finish line to win the regatta with a race to spare at the start of what looks likely to be another Olympic gold rush for British sailing, they checked with Ian Walker, their coach, that they had done enough to secure the title and then hugged and kissed each other, punching the air with joy before jumping into the sea in spontaneous celebration.

Walker, holding their boat as his charges clambered back aboard grinning from ear to ear, summed up another superb performance by Britain sailors at an Olympics. “They sailed better than I ever thought they would,” he said. “To be honest, they sailed brilliantly and they sailed consistently — it’s fantastic.”

When they got ashore, Robertson, who is only the second woman to win successive Olympic gold medals in sailing after her triumph in the Europe single-hander in Sydney in 2000, tried to sum up her feelings after reaping the reward for thousands of hours of training and racing with her crewmates.

“I’m thrilled,” she said. “We have worked so hard, not just the three of us but Ian as well. Certainly it’s been a four- person team. We’ve worked so hard for the last year and a half. Now it feels very sweet to be sharing this moment.”

The diminutive Ayton, known on the boat as “Nipper” and regarded as a huge talent for the future, was relieved to have won, despite light conditions towards the end of the regatta, which have never suited the Britain trio. “Athens is supposed to be a light-wind venue and that’s been playing on the back of my mind — to win with a race to spare, I really just can’t believe it,” she said. Webb, who only joined the team 18 months ago, said: “I can’t really explain it, to be honest. I’m really a bit surprised and shocked — it’s just amazing.”

Robertson did not know how to react when reminded that she is now placed alongside Theresa Zabell, the double Olympic gold medal-winner from Spain, as the greatest female Olympian in sailing history. “No, I’m . . . I don’t know really how that feels,” she said. “I’m pretty pleased — yes, I’m pleased. I’m overwhelmed that we’ve put it all together.”

Robertson was never a sailing prodigy to compare to the likes of Ben Ainslie, for example, but she has worked tirelessly to haul herself up to the top of the sport. Having finished ninth at the 1992 Games in Barcelona and fourth in Atlanta in 1996, it has been a long and tough road as she battled self-doubt and failure before finally breaking through in Sydney.

That win gave her a huge confidence boost and, having married Jamie Boag, the Northern Irish sailor, after returning from Sydney and settled in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, she had seemed much more content in the build-up to Athens. It has been reflected in her racing as she has brought the full weight of her experience to bear in this campaign, which she has enjoyed all the more for the chance to share it with Ayton and Webb.

Over the past week the trio have been easily the most consistent crew in the 16-strong Yngling fleet and have been in control of the class from the off. They sailed well in the stronger winds in the early part of the week and have surprised their rivals since with a fresh turn of speed in the lighter sea breezes of the past three days. In ten races, their worst result came in yesterday’s second heat, when they were eighth, but they also managed two wins and a total of eight finishes inside the top five.

“I knew they could win,” Walker said. “They were still a bit slow upwind in the light but they made up for it with good starts, good strategy and good downwind tactics and speed. I couldn’t be more pleased for them — they deserve this.”

While Webb, 27, and Ayton, 24, have long careers in the sport ahead of them, Robertson, at 36, is now among the oldest in the Britain Olympic sailing team. She joked that it might be time for her to spend a bit more time with her husband after being on the road for months. “Poor Jamie, I think he’d like his wife back and maybe I’ll cook him dinner a few times,” she said.

However, she did not rule out another campaign for Beijing in 2008. “It’s always a possibility,” she said. “At the moment the last thing any of us want to do is get back in that boat, but time always passes and you miss it a bit — we’ll see what comes up.”