Great Britain's Iain Percy tonight laughed off talk that he is jealous of Ben Ainslie 's achievements.

The pair came through the ranks together and today Lymington -based Ainslie secured gold in the Finn class, which saw him become the most successful Olympic sailor of all-time.

The 35-year-old has four gold medals and a silver from five Games, while Percy today added a Star silver medal to the two gold medals he got at previous Olympics .

Both he and crew Andrew Simpson were visibly shocked when asked if it was hard to watch Ainslie's success after narrowly missing out on gold today to Sweden's Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen, but he managed a philosophical response.

"Myself, Andrew and I think all the guys that know Ben will be happy for him to get the medal," Southampton -born Percy said.

"I think within the sport and outside the Olympic side, there is enough respect for the Star class to understand that being alongside Sweden and Brazil (Robert Scheidt & Bruno Prada) stands pretty highly against anything going on out there.

"I don't think I have any concern holding my head up in the professional sailing world, having come second to Freddie and Max.

"I think people understand where the level is at and I am personally pretty proud of that so I have no worries.

"In terms of Ben, it is a fantastic achievement. We have been friends with him for a long time and we'll be having a beer for that."

Today's race could be the last seen at an Olympics for some time after the International Sailing Federation announced plans last year to drop the class from the 2016 Olympic in Rio de Janeiro.

There is talk it could yet be included and, while coy about the chances of competing in four years time, Percy was keen to stress the importance of the class remaining in the Games.

"I think it is quite hard after sailing the Star to go back to a smaller boat," he said.

"You kind of make these steps up the classes and physically it is quite hard to move as dynamically as they do now in the Lasers.

"I don't think we could quite handle it and I don't think my back could take the Finn. I hope the Star comes back in, as much for the good of the sport.

"I think it is very important that keelboat represents sailing and also gives an avenue for all the other medallists we're going to have coming through the 470 or the Laser this week.

"It gives them a class to move onto and then a stepping stone onto the professional world.

"I think it would be a real shame if that avenue was not available."