Nick Dempsey talks to madforsailing

In the run-up to Hyeres Olympic regatta, Lynsey Thomas talks to Nick Dempsey about his incredible sailing career so far

Nick, you went to the Games in Sydney and endured a pretty tough time. When the rest of the British team around you were winning medals, how hard was that at the time, and how determined has that made you now?
The Olympics were a real eye-opener for me, and I was hoping that I'd be able to do a bit better. To be honest I still don't really know what went wrong, I think I was trying to do something special for the Games. It made me realise that you don't have to be extra special, just consistent. You also need to learn how to deal with stresses and how to not get wound up within yourself. I was only 19 last year and I went to my first games with not much experience. I think one of my main problems was trying to peak just for the games, rather than aiming to be in the top five all year round. Hopefully in three years' time I'll be one of the top five in the world. I'm aiming to do well this year and from then on in start winding the pace up, I'm trying for the top three at this years' Worlds.

Sailing a Mistral is extremely physical, what is your fitness regime?
At the moment I'm doing one and a half to two hours cycling in the morning, five times a week and then training hard on the water. The on the water training is where I put in my really training while the low intensity fat burning exercise is done on the land. Ideally I'm trying to stay at 68 kilos, it's hard to put any weight on really as the training on the water just burns it all off.

How is your Olympic campaign going to be different this time?
This time the campaign starts now rather than three months before the Games begin. Last time the focus was on winning the trials, and now I'm not even worried about the trials, just focused on the Games. This time I'm going to be targeting the right events, I'm more sensible and I'll have a whole load more experience. I used to only favour the stronger conditions, and if the conditions weren't right at the start I would be wound up before even going on the water, this time I'm training to be confident in all conditions.

You have recently got engaged to Sarah Ayton, how is that going to fit in to both of your sailing lifestyles?
The relationship is great. We are both quite selfish at times but in the same respect we can both understand what each other is going through. I never doubted the commitment between us, but Sarah seems a lot more relaxed and happy, she's not worried about me running off any more.

How have the RYA helped you in terms of coaching?
Barry Edgington is our coach, he is the only one available to us, but to be honest, he is the only person who is good enough. I'd like to have Barry as a coach for the next Olympics. Last time it was both his first time as a coach and my first time competing so I think we both had a lot to learn, and both found it quite hard. Since he has been the coach the standard of Mistral sailing has gone up and up, and as he has become more relaxed his coaching has been better and better. Over the last two years he has taught me everything I know tactically. I just wish he could have more time with us out on the water rather than stuck in his office.

How hard will it be to keep going for the next four years in such an intensively physical class?
The biggest difference this time round, as I said before is that I'm starting now as opposed to three months before the Games. Last time I was trying to reach the peak of physical fitness at the games, whereas now I'm going to aim to peak three times a year, at the Worlds, the Europeans and the Nationals and then for the final year before the games I'm aiming to stay at peak performance all year round.