Rhu duo Charlotte Dobson and Luke Patience have announced their retirement from Olympic sailing.
The sailors, who both began their journeys at the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club in the village, competed at this summer’s games in Tokyo - but have now decided it will be their final Olympics.
Reflecting on the decision, Luke - who memorably won silver in the 470 class during London 2012 - admitted his heart is longing to keep competing, but he knows now is the right time to bow out.
The 35-year-old said: “It’s the end of a long, wonderful 17-year journey. It’s hard to definitively say it, but for me this is the end of my Olympic athlete career.
“After many long weeks thinking about it and talking to many different people I feel like I’ve made peace with that decision and that it’s the right one for me now. It’s been so hard to come to the decision because there’s so much passion for what I do.
“We embark on this madness not as a job but to try to represent yourself and your country at the highest level and come home as Olympic champions. Not only is that a really honourable thing to do with your life, it’s incredibly addictive.
“Success is a drug and so to walk away from a lifelong journey feels a bit weird. It won’t stop overnight and my heart still longs to continue, but my head is winning the battle.”
Meanwhile Dobson has said that she knew the time was right to step away from the sport.
The 35-year-old and partner Saskia Tidey led the Tokyo 2020 regatta in the windy early stages before being overhauled later on as the breeze turned light, eventually finishing sixth.
She explained: “I genuinely felt in the couple of years before Tokyo that Saskia and I had given ourselves the best chance of winning a medal in Japan.
“We’d worked with some incredible coaches and support staff and had some amazing sailors in our training groups.
“We gave it a really good crack but it wasn’t enough at the end. I think you have to know when it’s time to say that we did our best but it wasn’t really good enough. It’s been an amazing period of time and now I’m going on to work out what the next thing is.”
Mark Robinson, the RYA’s Olympic Performance Manager, heaped praise on the retiring sailors.
He said: “All good things must come to an end, and as such these incredible athletes have taken the decision to step back from Olympic campaigning.
“These individuals have made such a huge impact on our sport.”
