Goodison looking for home comforts to assist with bid for medals

Laser specialist Goodison credits his Chinese comfort – the 33-year-old won every warm-up event at the 2008 Olympic venue – as a crucial factor in his eventual gold-medal winning display at the Games. As such when last year’s Sail for Gold showdown ended with Goodison back in second, behind two-time world champion Tom Slingbsy, the Rotherham sailor admits it was a really tough blow.

However, far from resting on his laurels Goodison admits last year’s setbacks have served to strengthen his resolve for this week’s event as he bids to mark his territory on the London 2012 waters.

“Sail for Gold is a big regatta for me,” said Goodison. “Heading into London I wanted to try and be unbeaten at Weymouth like I was at the Olympic venue in China but that didn’t work out last year.

“Obviously Tom beat me last year and I ended up second so the goal really is this year to go out there and win the regatta and send out a message to my international competition.

“This year I have treated some of the regattas as more training ones to work on things and practice things but Weymouth will be a very important week for me to go out and there and try and win it once again.

“Heading into the Beijing Olympics unbeaten on the waters there meant that the competition needed to be thinking about me and thinking they needed to do something to beat me.

“Hopefully I can go to Weymouth this year and get the win and beat Tom so that he doesn’t have that piece of mind I had in China.”

While Goodison’s access to the Chinese Olympic waters were strictly limited the Rotherham sailor has as much time on the Weymouth venue as he can stomach – now living just five minutes away from the water.

With teams from all over the world also making regular pilgrimages to get a taste of the British conditions, Goodison admits the Dorset waters are a regular League of Nations most weeks.

But while his Olympic rivals are also getting a good dose of Weymouth hospitality, Goodison insists the GB team are still getting the best end of the deal – and he’s out to prove it this week.

“The foreign teams have got plenty of access to Weymouth and so in some ways it is not that much of an advantage being here because there are often lots of other teams here,” added Goodison.

“However, the foreign teams have got all the added trouble of the logistics of getting themselves to Weymouth and the travel so I still think us being within five minutes off the water is fantastic and a great situation for us.

“The British weather is notorious obviously and so the weather in the water is very changeable but hopefully by being here all the time we will have experienced everything it can do by the time London 2012 starts and that will give us some kind of an edge on our competitors.

Investment specialist Skandia is the principal sponsor of the British sailing team. For more information go to www.rya.org.uk/programmes/skandiateamgbr