London: His Olympic gold medal in windsurfing already guaranteed, all Dorian Van Rijsselberge had to do was stay on his board and finish the final race.
He did much more than that, the Dutchman skimming across the waves to finish first in the medals race and clinch his gold in style on Tuesday in windsurfing's farewell to the Olympics.
After winning the race, the 1.90 meter-tall Van Rijsselberge, who shaved his head just before the Olympics began, climbed on top of the console on his coach's boat and, hanging onto the pole that supports the weather vane, flashed the "hang loose" sign with his right hand. A large Dutch flag flew from the boat.
Van Rijsselberge won six of the first nine races. His lead was so big that he sat out the 10th race.
Windsurfing is fighting to keep its spot in the Olympics. Replaced by kiteboarding for the 2016 Rio Olympics in a vote in May, the International RS:X Class Association filed a legal challenge last week.
Nick Dempsey of Britain took the silver and Poland's Przemyslaw Miarczynski got the bronze.
With the race close to shore, Dempsey hopped off his board and greeted friends and family watching from the Nothe Fort.
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