Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-20 16:27:12

Yin Jian celebrates after her win. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(QINGDAO, August 20) — Yin Jian nearly caused a riot Wednesday when she won China’s first ever Olympic Sailing gold medal in a heart-stopping performance that had Chinese spectators screaming and waving flags.

A roar went up from the fans lining the viewing wall just outside the venue when they realised Yin had won gold by finishing third in the medal race after fighting back from fifth and out of contention for the title.

Italy’s Alessandra Sensini won the race to take silver while Bryony Shaw of Great Britain took bronze after finishing the race second.

Yin led out and chose the left side of the course with Australia and New Zealand in toe, while Yin’s main adversaries, Marina Alabau of Spain, Sensini and Shaw went right.

The right side paid and Yin was forced into catch-up as first Alabau, then Shaw and finally Sensini took the lead. Trouble loomed when Ukrainian sailor Olha Maslivets, who was out of the medal running, came between the front pack and China. Had it finished that way, it would have cost Yin the gold medal.

But while Sensini got away from the fleet, Yin fought back to third to claim Olympic glory.

“I didn’t think about anything during today’s race. I knew that if I kept passing one after another, that victory would be mine,” said Yin, asking excitedly: “Is this real? Is this real? Did I really win gold?”

Sensini’s silver was the only color missing from this remarkable 38-year-old woman’s collection of gold from the Sydney 2000 Games, and bronze from 1996 and 2004 Olympics. For someone who does not enjoy the light conditions, she did a great job in winning.

“I am very happy with the silver medal because it’s very challenging for me to sail in light winds,” Sensini explained.

“I got a good start. I was glad the wind was stronger on the first leg — I felt I had gold in my pocket, because I was first and the Chinese girl was ninth. It was a pity the wind decreased on the second leg, but at last I turned it around on the last leg,” she said.

Olympic first-timer Shaw’s bronze added to the swag of medals Great Britain has already won in Beijing. Shaw said her team’s medal wins had helped to inspire her.

“I feel emotionally released,” she said. “I gave all my efforts to this Olympics, and I feel very lucky to have team Great Britain’s support.”

Updated: 2008-08-20 16:12:09

(L-R) Shahar Zubari, Tom Ashley and Julien Bontemps (Photo credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Tom Ashley of New Zealand won the gold medal of the Men’s RS:X at the Olympic Sailing Regatta on Wednesday.

Julien Bontemps of France took the silver medal with 53 points and the bronze medal went to Shahar Zubari of Israel with 58 points.

Tom Ashley celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Tom Ashley celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Tom Ashley is carried ashore as he celebrates. (Photo credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
Sailors compete. (Photo credit: Song Zhenping/Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-08-20 14:24:16

Yin Jian poses on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

China’s Yin Jian was crowned champion of Women’s RS:X (Windsurfer Women) at the Olympic Sailing Regatta on Wednesday, winning China’s first ever Olympic Sailing gold.

Alessandra Sensini from Italy took the silver medal and Bryony Shaw from Great Britain claimed the bronze medal.

Yin Jian poses on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Yin Jian celebrates after her win. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Yin Jian celebrates after her win. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Sailors compete during Women’s RS:X medal race. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Sailors compete during Women’s RS:X medal race. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-08-20 01:14:52

(QINGDAO, August 19) — The Men’s and Women’s RS:X (Windsurfer) Sailboard medal races on Wednesday, August 20, look set to be nail-biters, with the favorites in each at the top of their respective scoreboards and the points as close as possible. Weather permitting, racing will start at 1:00 p.m. (UTC/GMT on Course Area A.

There will be more excitement on Course Areas D and E, where the Stars and the Tornados will start sailing at 11:00 a.m. and try to complete the final three races of their opening series.

Men’s RS:X (Windsurfer)

Julien Bontemps from France made it to the top of the board on Tuesday after race 10. The Frenchman has improved each day and, after missing a medal at Athens, knows he has to be spectacular to beat the four behind him.

Nick Dempsey of Great Britain is in second place and says that each Sailing medal won by his team, which has won three gold and one bronze so far, makes him stronger. He is dangerous.

Monday’s overall leader, Tom Ashley from New Zealand, had his worst day on Tuesday. He is third on countback to Dempsey and could bounce back on Wednesday.

Shahar Zubari of Israel led the regatta from day one until a couple of days ago, and the winds are light again, just as he likes it. The gold medal could be his.

Women’s RS:X (Windsurfer)

Like their male counterparts, five Women’s sailors are within striking distance of each other and the lead in their series has been a see-saw one too — anything can happen on Wednesday.

Yin Jian of China reclaimed her lead of the series on Tuesday. Forecasters say conditions will be the same tomorrow,so China could win its first Olympic Sailing gold ever.

Yesterday’s leader, Alessandra Sensini of Italy has one gold and two bronze medals from four campaigns — this is her fifth. She is in second place but ill at ease in lighter breezes.

Three-time Olympian Jessica Crisp of Australia and world No. 1 Marina Alabau of Spain are on equal points, with Crisp leading on countback. The Australian thrives in light airs. Alabau is at her first Olympics and has nothing to lose.

Star (Men’s Keelboat)

The final three races of the preliminary series are scheduled to be sailed on Course Area D. The warning signal for the first race is at 11:00 a.m., and no warning signal can be made after 4:30 p.m. The Tornados will not be sharing the course or the line with the Stars, so there is some hope that three races can be squeezed into such a short period.

Going into the final three races of the preliminary series, the points are so close that any 10 of the 16-boat fleet could make the medal race.

Expect every team to sail race eight as if it were the final race of the opening series.

The weather forecast is for light winds. Look for Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria from Switzerland to show us how to make their specially designed boats and sail configurations go fast.

Also expect a solid performance from steady Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau of France.

Only 20 points separate third through 10th place, occupied by Diego Negri and Luigi Viale of Italy

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Tornado (Multihull Mixed)

The final three races of the opening series are scheduled to be sailed on Course Area E. The warning signal for the first race is at 11:00 a.m. and no warning signal can be made after 4:30 p.m.

Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz of Spain, along with Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia, have pulled away from the pack and will work on creating a buffer over the others to ensure a medal.

Expect everyone to sail race eight as if it were the final race of the opening series.

Only two points separate third through seventh place and only 17 points separate third through 12th place.

Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon of France are in 10th place going into race eight.

Updated: 2008-08-19 23:58:48

(QINGDAO, August 19) — Paul Goodison, who finished fourth in Athens 2004, clinched gold in the Laser (Men’s One Person Dinghy) on day ten of the Sailing regatta, giving Great Britain its third gold so far in Qingdao. Anna Tunnicliffe staged a stunning and dramatic comeback to claim the Laser Radial (Women’s One Person Dinghy) gold medal, the first for the United States in Sailing in these Olympic Games.

Goodison won the gold medal with a ninth-place finish in the medal race and an overall point total of 63, eight points ahead of Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia who finished second in the medal race to claim silver. Diego Romero of Italy, an early leader in the regatta, grabbed bronze with 75 points overall.

World No.1 Tunnicliffe went into the medal race with a seven-point advantage over Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania. She finished the race in second place to claim first overall (37 net points). Volungeviciute, placed first in the medal race, enough to earn her silver with 40 points overall. Chinese sailor Xu Lijia challenged for silver, but couldn’t close the gap. She grabbed bronze with 50 points overall.

Sailing in two boat classes, Tornado (Multihull Mixed) and Star (Men’s Keelboat), were postponed because of weather.

Women’s RS:X (Windsurfer)

Yin Jian of China reclaimed her lead in the Women’s RS:X competition, winning Tuesday’s race 10 with ease, and is now eyeing gold in Wednesday’s medal race. Yin, a silver medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, is favored to win Beijing gold, with Wednesday’s predicted light winds and a strong current ideal for her.

Alessandra Sensini of Italy, competing at her fifth Olympics, was pushed back to second overall after finishing eighth on Tuesday.

Only 13 points separate the top five, which includes Bryony Shaw of Great Britain, Jessica Crisp of Australia and Marina Alabau of Spain. Shaw, second in race 10, is third overall.

Barbara Kendall of New Zealand, who already has a complete set of Olympic medals, is in distant contention for another medal. The 41-year-old mother is 17 points behind Alabau and Crisp.

Men’s RS:X (Windsurfer)

Julien Bontemps of France has made his move to the top of the Men’s RS:X fleet at just the right time — one day before the medal race. The French sailor had been sitting in the top five and moved to third Monday. In race 10 on Tuesday, a third place was enough to give him an advantage going into the medal race. Bontemps, however, only leads second- and third-placed Nick Dempsey of Great Britain and Tom Ashley of New Zealand by a point.

With the British team performing well, Dempsey clung to second overall with a fifth place today.

New Zealander Tom Ashley dropped from the lead to third on countback to Dempsey after scoring his worst result so far, a 32nd place.

Shahar Zubari of Israel also still has his eye on the gold. The Israeli sailor as an early leader in led the regatta, but fell of the pace in the bigger winds. He bounced back Tuesday with a fourth place and is only nine points off the lead.

Updated: 2008-08-19 16:44:04

Anna Tunnicliffe competes. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(QINGDAO, August 18) — Anna Tunnicliffe of the United States staged a stunning and dramatic comeback to claim the Laser Radial (Women’s One Person Dinghy) gold medal from rising star Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania in light and shifty winds before a packed crowd on Tuesday afternoon.

In the box seat going into today’s race, Tunnicliffe, the World No.1 Laser Radial sailor, made a dive for the windward end of the crowded start line and, in doing so, crossed early and had to return and restart.

That created easy picking for Volungeviciute who finished with Silver and Xu Lijia of China who took bronze.

With the US sailor out of the back door, China took the early lead, but it was not long before the Lithuanian had the upper hand. Choosing the opposite side of the course to Xu, Volungeviciute led around the first windward mark. Although Xu stayed in close touch, she never caught her rival.

As the leaders reached the last mark of the course, Sarah Blanck of Australia, also in medal contention, caught a shift and made her way to third place, but she needed to pass Xu to win bronze. Then, out of ninth place appeared Tunnicliffe, who had gone to the left side of the course. She came through to finish the race in second place.

“I had a really bad start. It was very hard to focus when my competitors were gaining points on me,” said Tunnicliffe after her victory. “At the last mark, I saw a big puff at the left side of the course, and I said to myself, ‘I already have a medal, so why don’t I give it a try?’ I went to the left and moved to the front of the fleet.”

“I’m very excited. This is phenomenal. It is absolutely unbelievable,” she said about winning gold. “This is my first Olympics and first medal. I’ve been wanting this for many years. It is a dream come true.”

Volungeviciute may have missed gold, but she won the race, the silver and created Olympic history as the first Lithuanian sailor to win an Olympic medal.

“I won the race today. I’m very proud of myself. I’m also very happy to get the first Olympic sailing medal for my country,” said Volungeviciute. “I have to say Anna is the strongest. I’m very satisfied with my result. I want to thank my coach. He’s been with me for 12 years. Without him, I would not be here today.”

Because Xu stayed calm she kept Blanck at bay in fourth place, the same rank as in Athens.

Updated: 2008-08-19 15:45:44

Goodison celebrates. (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

(QINGDAO, August 19) — Paul Goodison of Great Britain clinched gold in the Laser (Men’s One Person Dinghy) with a ninth finish in the medal race and an overall point total of 63, eight points ahead of Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia who finished second in the medal place to claim silver. Goodison, who finished fourth in Athens, added to Great Britain’s impressive gold medal — making it three gold so far for his NOC. Diego Romero of Italy, an early leader in the regatta, grabbed bronze with 75 points overall.

Goodison came into the medal race 18 points ahead of his nearest rival, so all he had to do was keep Rasmus Myrgren of Sweden from finishing first. The Briton sat on top of his Swedish adversary throughout the two lap windward/leeward course at the back end of the fleet.

“It was quite tricky and pretty stressful,” Goodison admitted. “I waited to make sure that I got the gold at the end of the day — and there was only [one] way to guarantee it. Sweden knew it was coming too — but I just had to do what I had to do.”

Goodison’s actions also cost the Swede a medal even though Myrgren went into the race in second place overall.

Race winner Andrew Murdoch of New Zealand threw everything at Zbogar to try get rid of of the Slovenian in the light shifty airs, knowing it would cost him the bronze medal, but like Myrgren, the New Zealander missed out.

“It was really shifty, so it was hard to choose which course to take,” the Slovenian sailor said. “I was able to sail my own race, as Britain was keeping an eye on Sweden. I think I had an advantage because I have already won bronze at Athens, so I didn’t feel pressure and make mistakes.”