Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-21 18:20:25

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson prepare to compete. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 21) — Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson of Great Britain won the final gold of the Qingdao Sailing regatta with a fifth-place finish in the medal race and 45 points overall in the Star (Men’s Keelboat) boat class. The victory gives Great Britain its fourth gold and sixth medal of the Beijing Olympic Sailing competition.

Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil earned silver with a third-place finish in the medal race and 53 points overall. Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden, who started the day in first, finished in last place in the medal race but held on for bronze.

Simpson and Percy took advantage of strong winds and heavy seasto finish far enough ahead of Sweden and close enough to Brazil to win the Star class gold medal.

The Swedes, who looked almost certain to emerge Star gold medalistsuntil the winds and seas kicked up Thursday, sailed a disastrous final race. They finished dead last and ended with the bronze medal on 53 points — tied with second-place Brazil but falling to bronze because of their poor medal race finish.

Gold medalist Percy won gold in the Finn(Heavyweight Dinghy) at the Sydney 2000 Games and was the 2002 Star world champion.

Updated: 2008-08-21 15:48:51

(L-R) Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz of Spain fly their national flag. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(QINGDAO, August 21) — The three teams in first, second and third in the Tornado (Multihull) entering the final day of Sailing finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the medal race to take gold, silver and bronze. Spaniards Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz led the way with 44 overall points, five points better that World No. 1 Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia.

The last spot on the podium went to Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola of Argentina on 56 points.

This is the Spanish pair’s first Olympic medal and the second Sailing medal for Spain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

It was Bundock’s second silver medal in the Tornado. His first silver was won at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. He was also the 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2008 Tornado world champion.

This was the third Sailing medal Australia has won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with the other two being gold in the Men’s 470 and 470 (Two Person Dinghy) events.

The Australians lost what chance they had of overhauling the Spanish crew when they fluffed their start and then broke a mast swivel.

“We stuffed up at the start and we parked,” Bundock said.

“We broke our mast swivel and that’s okay in five knots or under. But it was really breezy out there and all we could do was our best.

“We’re still extremely happy about the silver. Hopefully there will be another multihull event in the Olympics again.”

Lange and Espinola also won the bronze medal in Athens.

“We are very happy about our bronze medal. We won the 2004 World Championship in Spain, but the conditions were harder here, so any medal would do for us. I want to thank my family and my friends for helping us in the past,” Lange said.

Echavarri and Paz of Spain were the leaders going into the medal race, with Bundock and Ashby of Australia in second while Lange and Espinola of Argentina and Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz of Germany were within striking distance.

Polgar and Spalteholz saw their chances vanish when they capsized on the first run while Bundock and Ashby took a big risk by crossing the line on port tack and heading for the spectator gallery and were trailing in ninth spot around the first weather mark. At that point, the Spaniards were first in the 10-boat fleet.

The fleet got further separated on the next beat, and as the Spaniards dropped to fourth, the Australians climbed to fifth, but the short two-lap course never gave them a chance to deny the Spaniards gold.

“After ten years of training, we finally got our first Olympic medal. We feel like we’re the luckiest here,” said Echavarri.

“We’ve been performing very well together as a team. We’ve been winning championships and regattas, but this is the most important win of them all,” he said. “The conditions were really difficult today, and we were quite nervous when we were out there. We just reminded ourselves to concentrate more on the sailing and treat it like any other race.”

Updated: 2008-08-21 15:14:18

Iain Percy(R) and Andrew Simpson (Photo credit: Xinhua)

British pair Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won the Star gold medal at the Olympic Sailing Regatta on Thursday.

Brazil took the silver and the bronze went to Sweden.

Sailors compete during Star medal race. (Photo credit: Song Zhenping/Xinhua)
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson prepare to compete. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden prepare to compete. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Updated: 2008-08-21 14:48:49

Fernando Echavarri(L) and Anton Paz (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Spanish pair Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz claimed the Tornado (Multihull Mixed) gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Sailing Regatta on Thursday. Australian duo Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby took the silver medal with 49 points. The bronze medal went to Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola from Argentina with 56 points.

(L-R) Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz of Spain fly their national flag. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Sailors compete during Tornado medal race. (Photo credit: Song Zhenping/Xinhua)
Sailors compete during Tornado medal race. (Photo credit: Song Zhenping/Xinhua)
Sailors compete during Tornado medal race. (Photo credit: Song Zhenping/Xinhua)
Sailors compete during Tornado medal race. (Photo credit: Song Zhenping/Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-08-20 21:48:09

(QINGDAO, August 20) — The Star and Tornado teams contest Thursday’s medal races with winds forecasted in the 10-12 knot range for the final day of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Sailing regatta. The competitors boast a wealth of experience, with several world championship and Olympic medalists on show.

Star (Men’s Keelboat)

Six of the teams in the medal race have won the Star World Championship: Sweden, Great Britain, Brazil, France, Poland and New Zealand. Eight teams have a chance of taking medals because only 18 points separate those between third and eighth place.

Fredrik Loof of Sweden, the 2001 and 2004 world champion and his compatriot Anders Ekstrom, the 2004 world champion, have a 3.3 point average in the opening series.

The British, Brazilians and French are within striking distance of gold, while Marazzi and De maria Switzerland are in the mix for silver.

The Polish, Portuguese and German teams have a shot at the bronze medal.

Percy and Simpson of Great Britain can be expected to sail an aggressive first leg.

There is not a weak team in the fleet and there is a good chance of a photo finish.

Tornado (Multihull Mixed)

Just as with the Stars, eight Tornado teams have a shot at a medal.

This medal race represents the swansong for the Tornado, which has been in the Olympics since 1976; the Multihull Sailing discipline has been removed from the London 2012 Olympic event list.

Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz from Spain, the 2005 and 2007 world champions, sit three points ahead of Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia, the 2008 world champions.

Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola from Argentina won four of the 10 opening series races. If they manage to put four boats between them and the Spaniards and one boat between them and the Australians, they can win gold.

Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz of Germany could also challenge for the gold medal.

Seven teams have a shot at silver and eight teams have a fighting chance for bronze.

Updated: 2008-08-20 20:15:00

Tom Ashley celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

(QINGDAO, August 20) — Day 11 was a day of firsts in Qingdao, as Yin Jian won the Women’s RS:X (Windsurfer) to give China it’s first ever Olympic Sailing gold and Shahar Zubari won Israel’s first medal of these Olympic Games by grabbing bronze in the Men’s RS:X, finishing behind 2008 world champion Tom Ashley of New Zealand who won gold — his first Olympic medal.

Yin Jian, silver medalist at the Athens, won the Women’s Windsurfer with 39 points overall. She finished third in the medal race, good enough to beat medal race winner Alessandra Sensini of Italy by one point in the overall standings. Great Britain’s Bryony Shaw finished second in the medal race and earned bronze with 45 points overall.

Ashley won the Men’s Windsurfer gold with 52 overall points, just one point better than second-place finisher Julien Bontemps of France. He finished the medal race third behind Chan King-yin of Hong Kong and Shahar Zubari of Israel. Shahar Zubari of Israel finished second in the medal race to grab bronze with 58 points overall.

Star (Men’s Keelboat)

Fredrick Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden hold a two-point lead over Great Britain’s Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson ahead of Thursday’s Star double point medal race.

Brazilian pair Robert Schiedt and Bruno Prada are 14 points behind the regatta leaders on 47 points after placing third in three races on Wednesday. France’s Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau are on 51 points.

The 10 qualifiers for the medal race are chasing Loof and Ekstrom who sailed a two, one and seven in Wednesday’s racing, while Percy and Simpson had a one, two and six.

The boats at the top of the leader board sailed conservatively Wednesday, while those in the back of the fleet looked for something special to put them in medal contention.

Sweden, Great Britain, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Germany, New Zealand and Italy will start Thursday’s medal race.

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

Eight teams have a chance of a medal as just 18 points separate third through eighth places.

John Dane III of the United States, at 58 the oldest sailor at the 2008 Olympics, finished the opening series in 11th place. In the final race of his Olympic career Dane finished fourth.

Tornado (Multihull Mixed)

Spaniards Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz maintained their lead as the Tornado fleet completed the final three races of their 10-race opening series on Wednesday in some of the best sailing conditions seen at the regatta.

Echavarri and Paz finished on 36 points, ahead of World No. 1 Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia on 39. Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola from Argentina ripped around the course and posted two firsts and a ninth to move into third place.

The 10 teams going into the medal race are Spain, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Great Britain and Austria.

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

The Tornado fleet rounded the first weather mark of the day in Race 8 close together and Lange and Espinola came out of the jumble in seventh place.

During the next lap and a half they played the angles in the heavy air and pulled into the lead by the final leeward gate, holding it for the rest of the race. Leigh Mcmillan and Will Howden of Great Britain roared through the fleet to finish second. Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis of the Netherlands were third.

The Spaniards stole the show around every mark of Race 9, while the next six finishers traded positions. Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle of Canada trailed them by less than a minute throughout the race and Mcmillan and Howden were also in the mix. They finished second and third, respectively.

Race 10 started in eight knots of wind at 130 degrees, The wind then dropped to five knots and went as far right as 190 degrees. As the wind went right and the course was shifted further right, the race became more like a parade. Lange and Espinola won, Johansson and Stittle were second and Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz of Germany were third.

To swipe the gold from Echavarri and Paz, Bundock and Ashby need to put two boats between them and the Spaniards. Lange and Espinola can also win the gold if they finish four boats ahead of the Spaniards. The Germans need to put eight boats between them and the Spaniards if they are to win gold.

Assuming Spain is not toppled from top place, three teams could take silver: Australia, Argentina and Germany.

The points are so close that any of the top eight teams can take the bronze. Fifth through ninth place are separated by only three points.

Updated: 2008-08-20 17:09:37

Tom Ashley celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

(QINGDAO, August 20) — 2008 world champion Tom Ashley of New Zealand won gold in the Men’s RS:X (Windsurfer) with 52 overall points, just one point better than second-place finisher Julien Bontemps of France. Shahar Zubari of Israel finished second in the medal race to grab bronze with 58 points overall and give Israel’s its first medal of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ashley experienced his worst day of sailing on Tuesday, August 19, positioned 32nd in the final race of the opening series, and many wondered if he could climb back to win on Wednesday in the light shifty airs. He finished the medal race third behind Chan King-yin of Hong Kong and Zubari.

“I’ve done it. It’s the most incredible feeling and I can’t begin to tell you how I feel right now,” Ashley said. “It was an insanely tough medal race — the weather gave us a little bit of everything, but I tried to sail as consistently as I could.”

Ashley was coached by Grant Beck of New Zealand, who was also instrumental in the three previous medal wins of Barbara Kendall who finished sixth earlier on Wednesday in the Women’s RS:X medal race.

Julien Bontemps of France, who took the series lead on Tuesday, failed to medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, finishing ninth.

Shahar Zubari also created a Wednesday comeback to claim his bronze medal, reveling in the lighter shifty airs and flat seas — sailing conditions he loves.

“I feel so happy. I’m only 20 and I feel like a superstar. I was lucky to have the wind on my side today,” Zubari said. “When I finished, I counted back and realized I had won bronze. I was crazy with joy.”