Sailing Olympics – Day 10 – More Medals

470 MEN – AUSSIE GOLD, BRITS’ SILVER, FRENCH BRONZE

In another comeback that will go down in the history books, British 470 sailors Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield clawed their way back from ninth at the first mark, to third at the finish of the double points scoring medal race. But it wasn’t their position over the line that mattered. Beating the French by two places and the Dutch by three was what earned the pair the silver medal, but only just.

“We had a big disappointment midway through the event which ruled out any possibility of a gold, or almost any medal, so we are really proud that we’ve managed to get on with it and win a silver,” said Glanfield shortly after stepping ashore.

The Australians, Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page have had 24 hours to come to terms with winning gold having won the event with a day to spare, an impressive and well deserved performance.
“We had a bit of fun and it worked out OK,” said Wilmot, understating a performance that had seen them lead from the start once again.

In the 470 women it was another Australian victory as Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson did all that was required to ensure gold by covering their only threat, the Dutch. Winning gold from the back of the fleet in the all important medal race might not make sense to start with but it was all that was required.

The British girls Bassadone and Clark knew that the chances of a medal were all but dead, but nevertheless put in a good performance today to finish finishing fourth in the race, sixth overall.

Meanwhile out on the race course, Paul Goodison and Iain Percy were having crackers. More news on this later.

DANISH DECISION

The Danish 49er medal sticks. The Danes win gold in an Olympic story that will go down in history for more than just the medal that the team won. To break their mast just before the start, rush ashore, borrow a boat and make it to the start line with seconds to spare was impressive, but that’s not where the story ended. See ‘Medal Day Crash and Burn’.
A protest by the race committee against the Danish team threatened to remove the gold medal from the team. But at midday here in Qingdao the news is that the Danish wins gold medal in the 49ers.
In a complicated issue that will be debated for some time to come, the spirit of the Olympic games has triumphed.

Protests and Protest Decisions

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TODAY
The sun’s out, the humidity’s up and the breeze is back in single figures, normal service has been resumed here in Qingdao. But that hasn’t changed the main topic of conversation which is still that of Big Sunday. A day in which cameras were trashed, notebooks wrecked and dignitaries drenched, but a day in which the stories were huge. One is still rumbling on, that of the 49er class where the fortunes of the Danes hang in the balance as the protest hearing over their use of the Croatian boat continues. The very fact that the protest has taken this long suggests that the outcome might not be as simple as some were predicting.

Meanwhile on the various race courses, a gentle breeze looks set to decay gradually throughout the day.

Here’s this morning’s weather forecast from GBR meteorologist Libby Greenhalgh:

WEATHER
After some torrential rain yesterday and strong winds the low pressure has cleared to the east and is now maintaining a strong decreasing to moderate WNW backing W airflow.

Initial cloudy conditions will quickly break and develop into cumulus providing a drier sunnier day.

Expecting W 14-16 steadily decreasing through the day and backing to the WSW 06-10, with a small probability of a sea breeze trying to develop from 1500. This could result in calm conditions before a weak S sea breeze tries to establish itself