Four years ago Sarah Ayton stood alongside Sarah Webb and skipper Shirley Robertson on the top step of the podium after capturing gold at the Yngling event in Athens.
In their newly-appointed guise of 'three blondes in a boat' the trio also became tabloid gold. Such publicity proved fleeting, however, as Ayton found to her cost when subsequently trying to launch her Beijing bid.
With Robertson taking a break after Athens to start a family, Ayton decided to helm her own effort and approached Webb to be part of her crew.
But the going proved tough for the two Sarahs, who struggled initially with finding a sponsor to supplement their lottery funding.
According to Ayton, she contacted nearly 500 companies in search of sponsorship in the year after Athens without success.
At their lowest point, they made an attention-grabbing appeal by hoisting their boat on a crane with a banner pleading 'Sponsor us to Beijing' during Cowes Week in 2005.
Their financial problems were solved when Swiss private bank Mirabaud signed up to become their main sponsors. But Ayton's new team then failed to sparkle on the water.
With Webb sidelined after undergoing knee surgery, she teamed up with Annie Lush and Lisa McDonald but they could only finish seventh at the 2005 world championships in Austria.
Webb returned the following year, with Victoria Rawlinson completing the crew. But despite leading at the midway point of the world championships, they failed to make the podium, finishing fourth after a disqualification in their final race.
However, the addition of former youth world champion Pippa Wilson has completed the final piece of the puzzle for the Yngling Girls.
They claimed the world championships in Portugal last July, with the team of Robertson, Lush and Lucy MacGregor taking bronze, and also captured gold at the Olympic test event in Qingdao the following month.
Last September, the British Olympic selectors decided that the Yngling Girls had done enough to merit selection for the 2008 Games, a decision which angered Robertson, who was overlooked in her quest for a third Olympic gold.
But they justified their selection by successfully defending their world title in Miami in February and also claimed gold at the European Championships in April.
With the experienced Robertson at the helm, there was no question about who was in charge in 2004 but Ayton is keen to stress that her current crew is the sum of three parts.
"My girls are awesome and I'm very lucky to have two such good crew," she said. "Sarah is really solid...She's also a physical weapon.
"She's in the middle of the boat so she has to be really strong and she's the strongest middle in the fleet.
"Pippa has added so much to the team and brought us together.
"At the front you need someone who is really dynamic and has got a good feel for the boat. She's working with me to make the boat go fast and in light winds she is the eyes of the boat.
"As a team we all back each other in everything we do and we're all here for the same thing - to win."
