Shirley Robertson. Picture by Peter Boam.
COWES-based sailor and gold medallist Shirley Robertson is to become the voice of sailing during this year's Olympic Games, as part of the BBC's 2012 sports reporting team.
Shirley, who twice won gold medals for sailing — at Sydney in 2000 and in Athens in 2004 — will be based at the Weymouth Olympic sailing venue for the duration of the games.
The Olympics will be covered extensively on BBC1 and BBC3, with extra coverage via the internet. Viewers will also be able to use the red button facility to watch extra in-depth coverage of sailing, one of Britain's strongest medal hopes with several world champions in the GB line-up.
She said: "I have seen what the Olympics can do for the home nation, it really unites people and by the time it arrives we will be talking of nothing else."
Many of the GB Olympic sailors will be on the Island to unwind and celebrate at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, which starts on Saturday, August 11, as the Olympics finishes.