So much for gratitude! Windsurfer's 'amazing' wife sacrificed her Olympic dream so he could win a medal... now he's dumped her and their children

After taking Olympic silver, windsurfer Nick Dempsey paid tribute to his ‘amazing wife’ who had ‘sacrificed a medal’ so he could win his.

He thanked world-class sailor Sarah Ayton, who had given up her London 2012 dream and dropped out of competition to care for their two children and support him.

But four months after his success at the Games, the Mail has learned that the ‘golden couple’ of sailing are living apart.

Split: British Olympians Sarah Ayton and Nick Dempsey, who have two children, are understood to have seperated

Dempsey, 32, has left the family’s £425,000 detached home in Weymouth, Dorset – which is up for sale – and moved into a ground-floor flat a mile away.

Miss Ayton, one of the ‘three blondes in a boat’ who won sailing gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is still looking after their sons, a three-year-old and a nine-month-old.

The split comes after the couple admitted they had to make a ‘big call’ for their family as to whether one or both of them competed at Rio 2016. Miss Ayton, also 32, publicly hinted at a comeback and said ‘there is a bit of a desire burning again’.

 

But asked about the prospect of them both competing, Dempsey said: ‘There is potential for that, but there is also the potential for a lot of problems with that – we do have two kids, and to do that would require a lot of funding and a lot of sacrifices to be made.’

Asked if he was prepared to look after the children like his wife had done, he laughed: ‘I’m not sure I would. She is a better parent than me. She is far better at looking after the kids than I am. I don’t really fancy being a full-time dad.’

According to a friend, Dempsey became a regular on the party scene after his success this summer in the RS:X class.

Crest of a wave: Nick Dempsey in action at the Summer Olympics

The source told the Mail: ‘After Nick won the silver medal, he was going out a lot. He was living the life of a bachelor. Now they are living apart and he has moved into a flat near to the family home.’
The split will shock the thousands of fans who watched Dempsey embrace his beautiful wife and sons after winning his medal.

The crowd at the Weymouth venue cheered with delight as he jumped into the harbour and swam over to his waiting family after crossing the finishing line.

At the time, Miss Ayton proudly tweeted: ‘Enjoying a pimms [sic] watching my man win his silver medal.’

The couple met in 1998 at a youth sailing championship and were engaged three years later. They married in 2008.

Pure gold: Sarah Ayton displays the Gold Medal she won in the Yngling class as she hugs her then fiance Nick Dempsey at the Beijing Olympics in 2008

Miss Ayton, who also took gold at Athens in 2004, was on track to become the first British woman to win three consecutive Olympic golds before abandoning her training schedule last year to focus on motherhood and ‘supporting Nick’, who was desperate to improve on the bronze he secured in Athens.
Dempsey said: ‘She basically let me go and fully concentrate on trying to win and she looked after everything else in life.

‘She has been absolutely  amazing. I couldn’t have done it without her. There is no doubt in my mind she would have won here. She sacrificed a medal.’
After his London 2012 win, Dempsey said that the couple needed to decide who would compete in four years’ time, but last month he announced he had decided to go for Rio and had started training again.

Wedding Day: Sarah Ayton and Nick Dempsey wed in Fleet Church near Weymouth, Dorset in October 2008

Last weekend, he attended the British Olympic Ball, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, without his wife.
He arrived on the red carpet with fellow Olympians Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, who secured silver in the 470 class – the category his wife would have competed in.
After the ball, Dempsey returned to the £200,000 two-bedroom flat where he has been staying, which the couple bought as an investment property in 2007. Last night, he answered the door at the flat but declined to comment on his domestic situation.
At the family home, Miss Ayton said: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to make any comment.’