BRYONY Shaw missed out on repeating her Olympic medal-winning exploits of four years ago but immediately paid tribute to her silver-medal winning British teammate Nick Dempsey .

Windsurfer Shaw, who won bronze at the Beijing 2008 Games, went into yesterday’s RS:X Women’s double points medal race in seventh position but still with a shot of staking a late claim for silverware.

The 29-year-old needed to win the race with the girls ahead of her in the standings finishing down the fleet to reach the podium but despite strong home support from fans on the Nothe, ‘the stars didn’t align’ for her.

Shaw said: “My job today was super tough.

“The stars needed to align and unfortunately the other girls put in a great week and that’s hats off to them.”

Shaw, who endured a tough start to the year with a persistent chest infection hampering her training, could not quite maintain the pace that she showed in the early stages of the medal race and finished her London 2012 campaign fifth in the medal race and in seventh place overall.

Although admitting she was ‘gutted’ to miss out on a medal herself, Shaw immediately hailed the achievement of teammate Dempsey, who had earlier won Britain’s third Sailing medal of these Olympics . She said: “It was a fantastic race for Nick, I’m really pleased for him.

“We work alongside each other and push each other.

“We have very similar programmes and he’s worked really hard for that so congratulations. He did a great job.”

She added: “It was tricky in this type of wind. I put in my best race I could but it was not to be a medal this time.

“To not come away with a medal I’m gutted but I’ve enjoyed the journey.”

Shaw, who lived in Weymouth for several years before moving to Tunbridge Wells to live with her boyfriend Greg King, said it had been a ‘tough year’ with illness leaving her unable to physically prepare as much as she would have liked to.

She said: “Probably three months out of eight I have basically had to rest and recover, which is a bit of a shame and not ideal preparation.

“I’m not as physically fit as I’d like to have been.

“It hasn’t been the best series for me but I’m happy to be coming out with a smile on my face and an acceptance of where I am at.

“It’s been a great four years, me and my coach, Dom, have worked really hard and it’s been a great journey.”

Shaw revealed around 30 to 40 of her friends and family had gathered on the Nothe spectator course to watch her racing and support her to the end of the regatta.

She added: “It’s just so great to feel their support. I’d like to say a huge thank you to those guys and all the messages I’ve had on Facebook and Twitter.

“Windsurfing is such a great life, I’m going back home to a great life and it’s not all heartache that I haven’t got a medal here.”

Shaw said she was looking forward to getting on with some home renovations and having a holiday.

The Olympic Sailing Regatta ends this Saturday.