The 27-year-old went into the Beijing 2008 Games as overriding favourite to top the podium but did not even make the medal race and finished in 22nd place.
Slingsby put that behind him today to top the podium by seeing off the threat of Pavlos Kontides, whose silver is Cyprus' first medal in Olympic history.
The Australian impressed throughout the week in Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour, and came into the medal race with a 14-point lead over his nearest rival.
Slingsby was quick to get himself in front of second-place Kontides in a bid to keep him away from the front of the fleet, where he could potentially challenge for gold.
Slingsby rounded the first mark in eighth with his rival forced back to 10th.
The Australian eventually came in ninth to secure gold and was visibly overjoyed at the finish line, celebrating so wildly the boat toppled over.
There was also joy for Germany's Simon Groteluschen, who won the medal race to put him sixth in the overall standings ahead of Great Britain's Paul Goodison, who would likely have been amongst the medal contenders had it not been for a back injury.
With Slingsby and Kontides wrapping up the top two spots, it was a straight battle between Sweden's Rasmus Myrgren and Croatia's Tonci Stipanovic for bronze.
The latter started the race better and was ahead at the first two marks but then fell behind to Myrgren, who broke away free to take bronze after Stipanovic was forced to do a late penalty turn.
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