Now the countdown is over.

The duo have headed to Qingdao after many months of training and a week at home resting to pit their skills against the best in the world in the women's 470 class racing.

The action begins on Monday, with the medal race a week later at the end of a series of ten events.

The duo's close friend Liz Harrison said they were well-prepared to go for gold.

"In their time together, they have travelled to 15 countries across four continents, raced in 36 regattas in five different boats and lost count of the thousands of hours training on and off the water.

"The girls have left no stone unturned in their preparations. They have the speed and the skills, technique and tactics, to win races and believe they are as best prepared as they can be for the Games."

Bassadone, whose family live in Chichester, and Clark have been training at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao, on the south coast of the Shandong peninsula in east China.

Harrison said: "As challenging as light wind conditions have been fields of algae and poor visibility.

"The armada of fishing boats sent to rake up the algae compounded the problem by creating smog and fog from their diesel engines.

"Despite the conditions, training proved productive and the girls were happy with the speed they were achieving and with their equipment.

Before heading to China, Clark said: "I think there's probably five or six other boats which could win it (gold) – and we're one of those boats."

Follow the pair's progress all next week on this website