British sailor Giles Scott has followed in the footsteps of Hampshire stars Iain Percy and Sir Ben Ainslie to win sailing's Finn class, claiming team GB's 17th gold medal at Rio 2016.

He merely needed to complete today's race to top the podium after an eighth and second on Sunday made him uncatchable in the double-point finale.

The 29-year-old, who raised his fists in the air after crossing the finish, was overwhelming favourite with bookmakers having failed to win just two regattas in this Olympic cycle, getting silver in those two events.

But Sir Ben's successor made light work of that pressure to continue Great Britain's 16-year golden Finn record in the Olympics, started by Southampton-born Percy at Sydney 2000.

The man who coached Scott during his junior years said he knew his protege would become an Olympic champion from when he was just a young boy.

Simon Cray, credited by Scott's father John as "the first man to say 'this guy can go places'", coached Scott during his junior years from the age of 10 at Hollowell Sailing Club, Northampton.

The 58-year-old said: "I had the privilege of working with Giles during his junior years. We knew he had a special talent then and to see him now reaching gold at the Olympics is just absolutely wonderful."

Asked if he knew the young boy he was coaching would climb to the coveted top spot, he replied with a simple "Yes", adding: "I knew he would, I said he would be."

He said: "He was good, had good talent, but above that he had the right sort of mental attitude.

"I had people who were perhaps at that time slightly better in terms of technical skills, but put them in a race and they didn't perform. Giles, whatever race you put him in, he came out on top.

"He was a great talent to work with and I feel extremely privileged to have been part of that."