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Patriotic Nicole inspires Aussie sailors to Olympic gold medal

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Australia's men's sailing team have no doubt what spurred them on to Olympic victory on Tuesday - a good luck phone call from Nicole Kidman.

Malcolm Page and Nathan Wilmot, who have a tradition of naming their boats after the Oscar-winner's flicks, say the Aussie beauty's impromptu call went "a long way" to helping them clinch gold.

At first, though, Malcolm didn't pick up his mobile phone and left it to the message service - unaware it was The Golden Compass star.

"I was getting breakfast and thought, 'Ah, I just don't want to talk to her today,' so I bumped it," joked the athlete later. "Then two seconds later, there was a message from Nicole wishing us good luck.

"I ended up returning her call. She was very happy," continued the medal-winner, who named his boats Days Of Thunder, Dead Calm and The Australian in honour of the flame-haired actress' films. "She was very surprised that we do have a tradition of naming our boats after her movies and she's just really stoked to be part of the team!"

Photo: © Alphapress.com
Oscar-winner Nicole surprised her home country's sailing team on Tuesday, when she called to wish them luck in their Olympics race Photo: © Getty Images