AGAINST all the odds, Weymouth's windsurfer Nick Dempsey has won a priceless Olympic medal here in Athens.

The 24-year-old from Old Castle Road snatched bronze by a single point in the mistral class on a day that witnessed one of the most incredible Olympic upsets of all time.

Going into the 11th and final race lying fourth, and an ocean between him and the medal ceremony, he sailed the race of his life to gate-crash the party and bring home a glittering prize.

With Israel's Gal Fridman guaranteed a medal, to make the podium Dempsey had to beat third-placed Kaklamanakis from Greece by 11 places and finish a massive 16 ahead of the red-hot Brazilian Santos.

But after reading every shift and powering his way along in a light breeze yesterday, Dempsey came home first followed by the Greek in tenth and Santos, incredibly, in 17th place.

The Brazilian - a light-air specialist who had barely put a foot wrong all week - had been suddenly cut adrift from the medals.

A stunned Dempsey later said he had only been keeping an eye on Kaklamanakis during the race, and thought it was all over when he saw the Greek finish tenth.

He said: "When I crossed the line I didn't really know what to think - I knew I was going to be close.

"But when we saw the Greek guy finish ninth or tenth, I thought that's that then - let's get out of here.

"It wasn't the best moment of my life.

"Then as we were coming in someone told me the Brazilian had finished 17th and I had won bronze - it was an incredible moment."

The result gave Britain it's fifth sailing medal in Athens, and ensures Dempsey makes history by becoming the first Briton ever to win an Olympic medal in the windsurf class.

It also means an amazing four Olympic medals will be heading back to Weymouth and Portland.

Dempsey's fiancee Sarah Ayton, who shares their home in Old Castle Road, is bringing home a gold medal in the Yngling class, while borough-based 49er duo Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks have guaranteed themselves a medal in the 49er class.

Dempsey said the result was all the sweeter because he had such a poor start to the

regatta.

He disastrously lost his boom during the first race, and suffered several below-par finishes in the following days.

But a stunning regatta second half, during which he scored an unprecedented three race wins, saw him muscle his way back into contention.

He said: "I put the start behind me and made sure I focused on every race, that's pretty much all you can do."