The Shoalhaven is celebrating the Rio Olympics silver medal win by sailor Will Ryan.
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The 26-year-old is the grandson of well-known Nowra doctors, Bill and Pat Ryan.
And there wasn’t a prouder set of grandparents in the Shoalhaven on Friday morning after Ryan and his crewmate Mat Belcher claimed silver in the 470 (Four-Seventy) sailing class, despite Will falling out of the boat in the home straight.
The Aussies were overtaken by Greece after Ryan slipped and fell into Guanabara Bay, with the Europeans going into the silver medal position in the process.
The Greeks went ahead by three seconds but the experienced Australian crew managed to recover on the final stretch to overtake their opponents again and finish with silver.
Croatia, who were well ahead of the chasing crews going into the gold medal race, sat just in front of the Greeks and Australians to claim gold.
“It’s all very exciting and naturally we are thrilled,” Dr Bill said.
“I feel inflated - so proud.”
Although he admitted he didn’t get up for the final, which was 2.50am AEST.
“I think we taped it somewhere,” he joked.
“Frank [Will’s father] rang us straight after the final very excited as we are. We are very grateful and proud of Will.
“It’s been a lot of bloody hard work.
“Why he had to put on the extra show and and fall in the water I don’t know, we’ll have to find out.
“I don’t know if it was part of a team trick?
“But this is a great thing, we are very thrilled.
“I thought it would be nice for him to get a blazer but to come home with something hanging around his neck is amazing.”
Of course the Ryans were also cheering on another family member at Rio, with Will’s younger sister Jaime also competing in the women’s 470s section, where along with crewmate Carrie Smith, eventually finished 15th.
Naturally we are very proud. I thought it would be nice for him to get a blazer but to come home with something hanging around his neck is amazing.
- Proud grandfather Bill Ryan after his grandson Will won silver in the 470s sailing at Rio
Of his mishap, Ryan said he “just slipped and fell straight in”.
“Mat pulled me back out of the water one-handed really quickly and got me back in the boat and back into it,” he said.
In an interview after the race Will said it was a huge achievement.
“Thanks to Victor (his coach Victor Kovalenk) and Mat, he said.
“We’ve been together pretty much every day for four years working together. It’s a special moment that’s for sure.”
His mother Mandy said it was an exciting race.
“It was so close at the end. We’re really thrilled, they did a great job,” she said.
Belcher, who won gold at London, praised his young crewmate, saying it had been a long week but he was so proud of Will at his first olympics.
“The way he handled himself was pretty amazing,” he said.
Belcher and Ryan are the third Australian crew to win a sailing medal in Rio.
In a big day on the water, Australia also won a silver in the 49ers after Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen edged ahead of their German rivals.