Olympics: Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark celebrate golden moment

Winning a gold medal and celebrating on the beach with your mom.

Thursday could scarcely have been more perfect for British sailor Hannah Mills, who alongside Saskia Clark celebrated victory in the 470 class on the sun-kissed sands of Rio’s Marina da Gloria.

With Sugarloaf Mountain serving as a stunning backdrop, Mills and Clark knew all they had to do was finish the 10th in the final race of the series to be confirmed as champions.

And when they sailed onto the beach, their loved ones were there to share the moment.

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“I just wanted to come and see my mom,” the 28-year-old Mills told reporters. “She made it out here, bless her, all the way to Rio and she’s been there the whole time supporting me, and all of my family back home.

“It’s such an amazing moment to be able to share with everyone. You’re on the water doing it on your own, it’s nice to be able to come in and see everyone.”

Clark and Mills took the silver medal behind New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie at London 2012. But, four years on, roles were reversed with the latter pair having to settle for seventh place.

Camille Lecointre and Helen Defrance of France took bronze.

The event was originally scheduled to finish Wednesday only to be pushed back due to a lack of wind.

And for Clark and Mills, their experience of Rio at the Games has been a far cry from their training visit to the city in December 2014, when they were mugged at knifepoint.

“Wrong place, wrong time,” said Clark of the incident. “It happens.”

“Obviously it was a bit of a downer on that trip but since then we’ve been a lot better prepared,” she added, “we’ve had our wits about us a bit more and we haven’t really had a problem since.”

Despite the undeniable beauty of the setting, health concerns have been raised over the water quality in Guanabara Bay.

Belgian sailor Evi Van Acker contracted a gastrointestinal infection in July which prevented her from competing at the Games.

Also last month, a group of Brazilian scientists claimed a drug-resistant bacteria was growing off some of Rio de Janeiro’s most stunning beaches.

But Mills reported no such problems, even admitting that she’d swallowed plenty of the water while competing.

“I love sailing here,” she said of the venue. “It offers everything for us on the water.”

“We’ve had a really good health routine for the water quality which seems to have worked really well.

“We’ve hardly had any sickness this trip, so really pleased with how we’ve dealt with that.”

Mills hopes the Olympics will prompt authorities to address water pollution.

“The locals go swimming in it the whole time, I’m sure it’s an immunity thing,” she said.

“It’s their city and we hope for the people of Rio that the water gets a bit cleaner and they manage to keep on top of it.”