Webb fears being sunk by drop in class

Britain's 'Three Blondes in a Boat' face being capsized this week by an international ruling, just three months after winning Olympic gold.

Sarah Webb, who triumphed with Pippa Wilson and skipper Sarah Ayton in Beijing, warns if the International Sailing Federation confirm their intention to drop their Yngling class from the next Games in London, there is only a "50-50" chance the trio will continue together.

"We have had to put our ambitions on hold until this decision is announced and if it goes as we expect, we will have to do a lot of real soul-searching in the next few days," said Webb.

"Ideally, whatever the decision, we would sit down and decide to go for gold again as a team in London. But I'm unsure about what will happen now. I would say it is 50-50.

"We might think about entering London 2012 in different boats and I will have to think whether I want to be at London 2012 as a competitor or in some other capacity."

The ISAF council will vote at their congress in Madrid tomorrow on whether to approve recommendations to replace the Yngling boat with a new category, the Elliott 6m, with an announcement due the next day.

They also intend the new class to be the only one of 10 sailing events at the 2012 Games to be run on a match-racing basis - where rival crews collect points by racing each other in a round-robin - rather than the traditional fleet racing.

The trio would have to learn new skills and tactics for match racing and would be unable to develop their own boat for competing, something they have done brilliantly in the space of the last four years with technical input from the British team.

Also, the crew's combined weight in Beijing was around 190kg and they fear they may not be as effective in an Elliott 6m boat, which would require them to be right up to the maximum allowable limit of 205kg.

"It will ruin Olympic racing for women in this class and it will also kill the match-racing circuit which exists outside the Olympics now," said Webb. "The atmosphere will become cut-throat and unsociable."