Giles Scott didn’t take long to dwell on his Olympic success before charting the seas to his next nautical target.
Scott ruthlessly crushed his rivals to win the Finn class title in Rio, an event dominated for three straight Games by fellow British sailor Sir Ben Ainslie.
Now - less than a month on - he’s uniting with Ainslie as Great Britain’s America’s Cup team competes in this week’s World Series in Toulon.
Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR crew lead the America’s Cup World Series by a single point heading into the concluding regattas of the season on the Côte d'Azur and Japan.
And with points counting towards next year’s main event in Bermuda, where Ainslie is seeking to win a trophy Britain has never won since losing it to America in 1851, it’s all stake again for Scott.
He will take on the role of strategist having last appeared for the crew in Oman in February, succeeding Ed Powys, who called the tactics when the British boat won their home regatta in Portsmouth in July.
“I think that the best thing about combining the Cup with my Olympic programme has been to stay very race-fresh and that can be hard to do locked into just the Cup scene,” said Scott.
“It’s great to be back, the last event I did was Oman, which went well and then the guys have been doing a great job in my absence. Hopefully we will be able to carry that on in Toulon.”
And four-time Olympic champion Ainslie, who won the America’s Cup with Team USA in 2013, is also hopeful that Scott’s return will make the difference.
“It’s great to have Giles back in the team,” he said.
“Ed Powys did a great job in his absence but on the back of Rio – and particularly Giles’ success in Rio – having him back on the boat gives the team a really good boost building up towards the Cup next year, and into the closing stages of the World Series.
"We’ve been missing him for the last three events, to have him back adds extra strength to our team.
“The focus now is to see if we can get some of those bonus points to end up on top at the end of the series, and keep developing as a team.”
Sportsbeat 2016