Yin Jian made China proud by winning China’s first ever gold medal in sailing at the Beijing Olympics 2008. Her outstanding performance was meted out with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm by the Chinese people. A spectacular show which was put up earned her an amazing victory. Yin, a silver medalist in Athens four years ago, won gold in the RS: X by just a little margin, with only one point ahead of silver medalist Alessandra Sensini of Italy after 11 races, including the final that counts double. Britain’s Bryony Shaw, who won last year’s test even in Qingdao, took bronze.

Yin had got it right from the very start by getting three straight victories in the 10 race preliminary race. While she had dropped down the rank in the middle she bounced back in the last preliminary race on August 19, 2008 with a win which fetched a top position yet again. For getting her hands at the gold, she needed to secure a fourth position in the finals. But she managed to come third and thus bagged the gold medal.