| Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8 |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app. |
Great Britain’s Emma Wilson celebrated a bronze medal on her Olympic debut in the women’s windsurfing event at Tokyo 2020.
The 22-year-old was already guaranteed a medal after winning four of her 12 races heading into Saturday’s final.
In a tense final leg, Wilson needed a boat between herself and China’s Lu Yunxiu to claim silver, but her opponent stayed close and eventually took the gold medal.
Rio 2016 champion Charline Picon of France won the race to take silver.
At the end of the physically challenging race, all three jumped into the water and raised their arms together to toast their achievements.
“It’s amazing. I tried so hard in that race – I just kept going and going,” said Wilson.
“I just want to win, but any medal is amazing. I’m super happy and I just gave it everything I had.”
Wilson’s mother, Penny, was world windsurfing champion in 1986, 1990 and 1991, and represented Great Britain at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, though did not finish on a podium.
In BBC commentary, two-time Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson said world number four Wilson had joked in the build-up to the Games she was fed up with “always finishing fourth”.
She was in second place in the standings on Friday after a superb run of performances in Enoshima and said it was her ambition to win an Olympic medal.
“I’ve dreamed of this since I was a little kid to win a medal.” she said. “Watching people like Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis on [London 2012] Super Saturday, things like that, just amazing.
“My goal was to enjoy every moment and now I’ll definitely enjoy today – but it’s not over yet.”
Wilson’s points total was not enough in the end to hold off Picon for silver, despite a strong effort in the final, down-wind leg as the finish line approached – but that medal dream came true.
There was drama in the men’s windsurfing final as three medal contenders were disqualified from the race.
Kiran Badloe of the Netherlands took the gold medal, but Thomas Goyard of France, Italian Mattia Camboni and Poland’s Piotr Myszka, who were all tied on 22 points before the race, were eliminated.
Goyard managed to win silver despite his penalty, with Bi Kun of China finishing with bronze.
Great Britain’s Tom Squires, who was sixth going into the final and had an outside chance of a medal, ended his Olympic campaign in seventh place.
