Paralympics: GB sailors wait on final medal ruling

The Court of Arbitration in Sport is to decide whether Great Britain should win an extra Paralympics sailing medal.

ParalympicsGB is challenging a penalty imposed on John Robertson, Stephen Thomas and Hannah Stodel.

It dropped them from third to fifth in the Sonar three-person keelboat class and cost them a bronze medal.

"We were supposed to find out this week but the governing body for sailing has asked for a 21-day extension, so we keep waiting," Stodel told BBC Essex.

"We believe we won the bronze on the water fair and square but obviously events outside our control have meant we haven't got it."

The trio finished sixth at the Athens and Beijing Paralympics in 2004 and 2008 and were hoping the London Games would finally see them achieve a place on the medal podium.

They were third after the penultimate race and in with a chance of moving up to second.

The final race had to be cancelled because of a lack of wind and they subsequently learned they had been docked four points.

The discretionary penalty was imposed after team bosun Simon Hiscocks cleaned the port side of the keel after being authorised to lift the boat out of the water to inspect some damage.

According to the official ruling: "Once the bosun completed the repairs he began to wipe the whole keel including the port side.

"The measurer made three requests for the bosun to stop wiping the keel, but he kept wiping.

"After second request to stop, the measurer explained that he might have to make a report if he did not stop.

"The bosun replied, 'go ahead and make your report' and continued wiping."

However, in a statement, team leader Stephen Park described it as a "minor off-the-water transgression".

A subsequent appeal was rejected but the matter is now in the hands of the Lausanne-based CAS.

Asked how she felt about the ongoing situation, 27-year-old Stodel replied: "A bit of everything, really.

"The Games is over, we've had the closing ceremony, but it's not over.

"We're in limbo, we're waiting to find out whether we've got the medal that we won on the water."