The 30-year-old finished fourth in Athens but ensured that 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 only needed to avoid finishing in last place in the 10-boat race to take the gold and was eventually ninth to comfortably secure first place in the standings with 63 points, eight ahead of Slovenia's Vasilij Zbogar, who took the silver by finishing second behind race winner Andrew Murdoch.

The British sailor 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.

Italy's Diego Romero came home third to take the bronze while Myrgren's last place in the medal race meant that he finished the regatta empty-handed in sixth place.

Goodison's gold increased Great Britain's medal haul in the sailing regatta to four, matching their pre-Games target and putting the team total just one behind the five that they achieved in Sydney and Athens.

Ben Ainslie and the crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson won gold for Britain in the Finn and Yngling classes respectively on Sunday with Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield adding a silver in the men's 470 class on Monday.