DOUBLE-OLYMPIC gold medallist Sarah Dempsey has spoken about the tough decision to retire to spend more time with her son.

Last week Olympic hopeful Nick Dempsey, who won gold in the men’s RS:X competition at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, paid tribute to his wife and said that her decision to retire had allowed him to focus on his Olympic bid.

Speaking about her retirement Sarah said they had initially both tried to continue sailing and looking after their son Thomas, who turns two in a couple of weeks, but that eventually a decision had to be made.

Sarah, 30, said: “Being retired is nice, I can relax for the first time in a while, or at least semi-relax. It was a hard decision to make. I’m happy for Nick to really give it his all and he’s good enough to win.”

She added: “It’s lovely. It’s really great that Nick can get on with his training. Then when he gets back from his day we can have a work-related conversation and then when he wants to get away from work, me and Thomas can distract him. It’s very nice.”

After last week’s Skandia Sail for Gold regatta, the family, who live in Wyke Regis, will be spending time together before Nick starts preparing for the test event later this summer.

Many of the sailors bring their children and families with them to the different sailing events and Sarah said it was really nice that there were so many children about.

Looking to the future and next year’s sailing events Sarah said that she would like to be involved in the coverage of the events.

She said: “Fingers crossed for some presenting. This is the time when opportunities may hopefully start to come in.”

Sarah announced her retirement from sailing in February this year.

She had been sailing for Skandia Team GBR in the two-person 470 class with Beijing Olympian Saskia Clark, who has since paired up with helm Hannah Mills, and the pair achieved silver at Sail for Gold.

Speaking at the time of her retirement Sarah said: “To succeed at the highest level as an Olympic athlete you ultimately have to be pretty single-minded, and that’s something that just doesn’t sit happily when you’re a mum as well.

“Winning gold is what Olympic sailing is all about, so working towards 2012 and feeling like I can’t give it my full attention has made me question why I am doing it, especially when it involves missing out on important time with Thomas.”

In 2004 Sarah claimed Olympic glory in the Yngling class in Athens with Shirley Robertson and Sarah Webb, and again in Beijing in 2008 with Webb and Pippa Wilson.