470 supreme team

The 470 has been in the Olympic Games since 1976 and split into separate male and female classes since 1988. Throughout that time Olympic Gold has never been won by a British team, something that there is a stronger than ever appetite to put right come Rio 2016. In fact Skandia Team GBR is getting something of a reputation for always winning silver, as best demonstrated at London 2012 when British crews stood on the second tier of the podium in both classes. But the 'bridesmaid' status is particularly strong in the Men class, where Britain has taken silver in four of the last five Games (starting with John Merricks and Ian Walker in Atlanta). Now perhaps, in the build up to Rio 2016, Team GBR has the best prospects of finally gaining the top podium tier in three and a half year’s time with the announcement over the weekend that London 2012 silver-winning helmsman Luke Patience is teaming up with Joe Glanfield, Britain’s 470 Men's crew in Sydney, Athens and Beijing, he and Nick Rogers winning silver in the latter two. So following Patience’s London 2012 crew Stu Bithell migrating to the 49er after the two realised mutually that they would be too heavy to compete together again in the 470 for Rio, was Glanfield Patience's only option? “We had a lot of discussions over the autumn,” says Patience. “It was something that had been playing on Joe’s mind to come back to the sport, so we spoke about the way in which we’d run the campaign and how we’d do it. We decided that it was right for both of us and here we are. There are obviously many great sailors in our country and many to choose from, but once me and Joe started talking it felt like a bit