HELENSBURGH’S Olympic silver medalist Luke Patience is looking for a new partner following the announcement his teammate is retiring with immediate effect.

Joe Glanfield, who claimed Olympic silver in Athens and Beijing, only returned to the 470 class a year ago to team up with Patience in a bid to claim the first ever British gold in the class at Rio 2016.

However, the father of five, Glanfield has found the demands of a gold medal campaign too much and is not prepared to comprise his family and professional life.

He said: “As Luke and I sailed it became quite clear what we felt was required to win a gold in Rio, and I increasingly felt as though it was going to be difficult for me to do exactly what was required.

“For me once I saw a conflict between doing a gold medal-winning campaign and living the life I want to live with my family then it became clear to me that the answer was to stop now and allow Luke to get on with someone else.” Patience equally has no regrets about his time with Glanfield, but has now set about finding himself a new partner for his quest for Olympic gold in Rio.

The Helensburgh sailor said: “We all do this for very specific individual reasons, and if one cannot reach a comfortable place for the reasons they were doing it then they cannot perform at their best, “I completely understand Joe’s reasoning behind that – he felt like he couldn’t be at his best and that’s not OK for him. I totally understand and respect that.

“For me, I live and breathe the Olympics – it flows in my blood, I’m obsessed. My drive and motivation for the goal hasn’t wavered at all through this, “I’m still fully there in my head. I have a plan from here and an outcome that I would like to get to carry on my path towards putting together a successful Olympic campaign that can get to the startline of race one in Rio and be in a position to challenge for a gold medal.”