Robertson, who finished fourth in Atlanta four years ago, went into the final race of the Europe series four points ahead of her Dutch rival Margriet Matthysse.

This meant she had to finish within three places of Matthysse, which seemed likely early in the race as she sailed into fourth with the Dutch sailor a place behind her.

Suddenly, Matthysse shot into the lead and Robertson slipped to fifth, putting her in silver medal position.

But she showed an enormous amount of guts to claw her way back and finished third behind Matthysse to snatch gold at the last.

It was an extraordinary effort considering the penultimate race of the event saw Robertson trail in 18th, looking disconsolate, while Matthysse piled on the pressure by winning the race.

Robertson was desperate for a medal after narrowly missing out in Atlanta and finishing ninth eight years ago in Barcelona.

As she sailed back to shore she punched the air with triumph, her joy at grabbing gold palpable.

"I had a terrible start this morning and it meant that the points were really close so I had to be really careful this afternoon. "It was really trick conditions out there," she said, "and it was hard to predict what the weather would do next.

"But I have sailed in those conditions before and I just tried to keep calm and not let anyone past me."

She admitted that when she slipped down to fifth place she became worried but she was delighted to have won gold at her third attempt.

"It has not really sunk in yet. But I'm really chuffed."