SHIRLEY ROBERTSON, OBE I've had a fantastic year and, in a way, this just finishes the year off really nicely

Ainslie, who triumphed in the Finn class at the Athens Olympics, has become an OBE.

Robertson has received the same accolade, while Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton, with whom she claimed Yngling gold, have been appointed MBEs.

The Scot was thrilled that, like Ainslie, she had an "upgrade" from MBE.

Robertson's previous recognition had following her first Olympic gold in Sydney, achieved in a Europe boat.

The 36-year-old Dundonian said: "I've had a fantastic year and, in a way, this just finishes the year off really nicely."

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Britain finished top of the sailing medal table at the 2004 Olympics.

And Robertson and her crew secured their top spot with a race to spare, testament to their mastery of a boat that is among the most technically demanding of the Olympic classes.

The victory meant Robertson matched Spaniard Theresa Zabell's record of golds in consecutive Games.

Robertson was the brains behind the Yngling win, calling the shots while the two English Sarahs did the hard physical work around the boat, but described herself as "just the driver".

BEN AINSLIE, OBE It's a perk, it's not why we race

At 24, Ayton, a world youth silver medallist, was the junior member of the team, while the 27-year-old Webb, also from Middlesex, was recognised as the workhorse of the boat.

Robertson has yet to decide if she will compete at the Beijing Games but will make an announcement early in 2005.

"I'm becoming more positive towards that idea," she has said.

"A family isn't necessarily a hindrance to competing in Olympic sport - the Ukrainian who won the silver medal in our event has a three-year-old."

Beijing is something Ainslie must also make a decision about but for different reasons.

He is intent on success in a much bigger boat - in the Americas Cup, an event in which he will compete for Team New Zealand next year.

But he can already lay claim to the title of Britain's greatest-ever sailor after collecting his third Olympic medal, and his second gold, in Athens.

Only one other Briton - Rodney Pattison, who claimed two golds and one silver in the flying Dutchman class between 1968 and 1976 - can match that haul.

Ainslie achieved it in two different boats, moving from the Laser, in which he won a silver, to the Finn for Athens, where he made a gutsy comeback after a first-race disqualification.

He said of his OBE: "It's a perk, it's not why we race, but it's a real honour when it happens. It's great to have your achievements recognised."