Paula Lewin has got her heart set on Olympic gold with the news that women's match race sailing will be a medal event at the 2004 Games in Greece.

But Lewin, who has intermittently topped the female world match-racing rankings over the past three years, has decided to opt out of next year's Sydney Games.

Lewin believes she and her crew of sister Peta Lewin, Leatrice Roman and Lisa Neasham, will stay together over the next few years driven by the desire to succeed in Athens.

"It's five years away, but still it's great for us to have that to aim for,'' said Lewin.

"We will have to stick to our programme for next year and just make sure we stay in that top band of sailors.'' Three-time Athlete of the Year Lewin, who finished 14th in the European dinghy class in the Atlanta Olympics three years ago, cited financial reasons for her decision to give Sydney a miss.

"I have done two Olympic campaigns and basically it's expensive and hard to hold down a job at the same time,'' said Lewin. "It's not so much the Games as the preparations for them.

"I have now got more of a balance between sailing and working and other things in my life.'' But a medal at Athens 2004 remains a target, since in match racing boats are supplied at the event, reducing the financial burden on competitors.

The International Olympic Committee announced at a meeting last month that women's match racing was to be incorporated into the Games.

The news came at the end of a year of varied fortunes for 28-year-old Lewin, who started as number one, following her best year ever in 1998.

"It was very much up and down,'' said Lewin. "We had two very good events and a lot that were just not bad.'' At least the year ended on a high note, with victory in the Women's International Match Race Championship in Marblehead, Massachusetts in October, followed by second place in the Osprey Cup in St. Petersburg, Florida, two weeks ago.

In both regattas, she defeated France's Christine Briand, in the final at Marblehead and in the semi-final in St. Petersburg, but her old rival and current world number one Betsy Alison beat her in the Florida final.

Lewin's top goal for 2000 is August's match racing world championships, scheduled for Marblehead and she felt there were good grounds for optimism.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves, but we have won the regatta at Marblehead for three years in a row,'' said Lewin. "We know the place well and we understand the wind patterns and that could help us.'' But soon after Lewin had spoken yesterday, the International Sailing Federation announced that Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, had withdrawn from hosting the regatta because of a serious illness affecting one of the main organisers.

Lewin, at number five in this month's latest world rankings, felt she was well within striking distance to regain the number one spot. "It does not take much -- a couple of good events and we'll be up there again,'' she said.

"We're still right up there with everybody else.'' Next year, Lewin intends to enter more open events -- where she will be competing against men -- such as Bermuda's Gold Cup.

She feels her sport will become more competitive over coming years because of its newly acquired Olympic status.

"Already the sport has grown so much and I think we are going to have to be quite intense to stay at the top,'' said Lewin.

"We're going to have to enter a lot more events and that could present a problem for us as we all have full-time jobs.'' But she was confident she and her crew would do what was necessary to remain competitive on the world stage and would get wiser before 2004.

"Experience helps a lot, not only when it comes to knowing how to handle your boat, but also with the decisions you have to make in a split second,'' added Lewin.

Paula Lewin: setting her sights on the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.