BRITAIN'S Paul Goodison made up for the disappointment of just missing out on an Olympic medal four years ago as he claimed gold in the Laser class at the sailing regatta today.

The 30-year-old finished fourth in Athens but ensured he would not suffer similar heartbreak in China with a solid performance in the nine preliminary races that guaranteed him at least a spot on the podium heading into the medal race.

Goodison, who won the two Olympic test events in Qingdao in 2006 and last year, only needed to avoid finishing in last place in the 10-boat race to take the gold and opted in the light winds of the Yellow Sea to err on the side of caution.

He covered Sweden's Rasmus Myrgren, the only man who could have denied him the gold medal, from the start, leaving the two boats at the tail of the fleet.

The British sailor eventually finished ninth, 3 minutes and 29 seconds behind race winner Andrew Murdoch, of New Zealand, but comfortably in first place in the standings with 63 points, eight ahead of Slovenia's Vasilij Zbogar, who took the silver.

Goodison was delighted to put his Athens misery behind him.

"It feels fantastic to come in with a medal this time and the fact that it's gold is just amazing," he said.

"I always knew it was going to be a bit of an up and down regatta."

To complete a magnificent day for the Great British team, Germaine Mason won a silver medal in the men's high jump. Lloyds TSB, proud first partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of Team GB on their journey to 2012. Visit www.LloydsTSB.com/London2012 Jade jumps to it to edge into final 12

JADE JOHNSON admitted she had played her get-out-of-jail-free card after scraping into Friday's long jump final.

Just two centimetres proved the difference between success and failure as Johnson went past the 6.59m qualification mark with the second-to-last jump of the whole competition - booking her a place in the top 12.

She said: "I always believed I could get to the final even on the first jump. But then you have the doubts, you start to panic, and you go through every single emotion you could possibly think of."

World No.1 Nadie Gomes failed to make the cut, but Johnson will have to up her game for a medal after her 6.61m jump put her 11th overall after leaps of 6.33 and 6.15.

Meanwhile, British No.1 Goldie Sayers brushed aside a sickness bug to convincingly book her place in Thursday's javelin final.

The 26-year-old fell ill at Britain's training camp in Macau but showed no ill effects as she surpassed the automatic qualifying standard in her second throw.

Her distance of 62.99m put her fifth overall and Sayers said: "Job done. I was hoping not to need two throws because there were so many people in the pool." Heat hits UK triathlon duo

TEAM GB'S Will Clarke and Tim Don toiled in the heat as searing temperatures made the going tough in the Olympic triathlon this morning.

Ex-world champion Don didn't last the distance as a mystery stomach bug - which also forced Hollie Avil to withdraw from yesterday's race - struck him down.

But Clarke completed his first-ever Olympic triathlon in 14th place - 98 seconds behind Germany's Jan Frodeno, who outsprinted Canada's Simon Whitfield to claim gold. Bolt eyes up double win

JAMAICAN sprinter Usain Bolt will aim to add the 200m gold medal tomorrow to his world-record performance in the 100.

If he wins both the 100 and 200, he'd be the first Olympic athlete since Carl Lewis in 1984 to achieve the feat.

Usain said: "I'm just going out there all the time to do my thing and show the world I'm probably the best." Crocked Liu says sorry

CHINA'S great hope for track glory, Liu Xiang, said he was sorry for his dramatic withdrawal from the 110metres hurdles.

But the defending champion revealed he had no choice because the pain from a foot injury became unbearable.

"There are so many people concerned about me and who support me. I feel very sorry. But there's really nothing I could do.

"I knew my foot would fail me. I felt painful when I was just jogging. The most important thing is to heal my injury." Larisa aims to be splash-hit

SWIMMERS are back in the water tomorrow, but not Michael Phelps, who is still here doing promotional work after his record eight gold medals.

The women's 10-km open water race, being held for the first time at the Olympics, will have Larisa Ilchenko of Russia as its overwhelming favorite. Ilchenko is the defending world champion over the distance and has won the 5K world title five times in a row.