Olympic winner: 'I was inspired by Kidman'

The Australian men's sailing team have claimed that Nicole Kidman inspired them to win Olympic gold.

A member of the victorious 470 sailing squad said a phonecall from the Australian actress boosted their confidence before the race.

Matthew Page and Nathan Wilmot, who won gold on Tuesday, name their boats after Kidman's movies, including Days Of Thunder and Dead Calm.

Speaking about his conversation with the Oscar winner, Page claimed that he initially rejected her call because she phoned on an "unknown number".

"I was getting breakfast and thought, 'Ah, I just don't want to talk to her today', so I bumped it," he joked.

"Then two seconds later, there was a message from Nicole wishing us good luck."

He added: "I ended up returning her call. She was very happy. 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 a team."