The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
The regatta was nearly over for the men’s and women’s 470 classes. The forecast looked good, the breeze on the horizon, but it simply didn’t come through. Race Committee called off the men’s class at about 1500 and the women’s class at 1615, bumping their medal race to Thursday. It will be held on the Pao course on the same day as both skiff classes’ medal races.
With no racing to report on, Sailing World looks back — way back, in some cases, to how medalists from past Olympic games have fared here in Rio. Important to note is that many Olympians from past Games are in coach or organizational support roles in Brazil, but this gallery reviews only the current competitors. Sailors are listed based on their current class.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
Laser
Robert Scheidt, Brazil. Gold medals in the Laser in Atlanta (1996) and Athens (2004), silver in the Laser in Sydney (2000), and silver medals in the Star in Beijing (2008) and London (2012). He came into the regatta as the face of Brazilian sailing, with hopes to medal again and break the individual sailing medal record by winning his sixth. His entire regatta was up and down, and Scheidt finished the regatta in fourth overall. His final shining moment was a win in the medal race, but it wasn’t enough to get him the hardware.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
Laser Radial
Marit Bouwmeester, Netherlands. Silver medal in the Laser Radial in London (2012). Bouwmeester had a less than perfect start to the regatta, scoring a 14th on the second day of racing. She rallied, finishing the medal race in seventh, enough to win her the gold medal in Rio. She wasn’t certain she had won at first, but when her coach confirmed her gold medal victory, she celebrated by hugging the silver and bronze medalists before taking a victory lap with the Dutch flag.
Lilly Xu, China. Bronze medal in the Laser Radial in Beijing (2008) and gold medal in the Laser Radial in London (2012). Xu was plagued with three DSQs involving right of way situations with other sailors during preliminary racing, and finished 18th in the fleet. Xu sailed in Rio with a shoulder injury that had her cradling her injured arm at the end of each day of racing.
Evi Van Acker, Belgium. Bronze in the Laser Radial in London (2012). Van Acker had a rocky start to the Rio regatta, and after the first reserve day seemed to rally. Her team made a statement naming a gastrointestinal illness contracted in July for her lethargy and inability to perform well. Van Acker briefly rallied in the regatta before finishing the medal race in sixth, placing her in fourth overall and off the podium.
Gintare (Volungevičiūtė) Scheidt, Lithuania. Silver medal in the Laser Radial in Beijing (2008). Scheidt won her silver medal under her maiden name before marrying Brazilian Laser sailor Robert Scheidt. She started off the regatta in Rio with a starting penalty, following it up with a hopeful race win in a startlingly similar scorecard to her husbands’ after the initial day of competition. Gintare Scheidt was unable to continue her winning streak, finishing seventh overall.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
Finn
Vasilij Zbogar, Slovenia. Bronze medal in the Laser in Athens (2004) and Silver in the Laser in Beijing (2008). Zbogar transitioned to the Finn for the Rio Olympics, and added a Silver medal in the class to his already impressive collection. Zbogar announced on Tuesday, after the medal race, that Rio would be his final Olympic appearance.
Jonas Hogh-Christensen, Denmark. Silver medal in the Finn in London (2012). Hogh-Christensen couldn’t quite get it together in Rio. After the first day he complained of his perceived incompetence of the race committee for finishing a race despite dying breeze. The next day, he seemed to be rallying when the clew ring tore out of his mainsail, forcing him to DNF. In the final days of the regatta he was unable to score anything in the single digits, finishing outside of the medal race in 16th.
Jonathan Lobert, France. Bronze medal in the Finn in London (2012). Lobert did very little talking to the media during the Rio games. With one bullet and the rest of his race scores seven or higher, Lobert finished outside of the medal race, in 14th overall.
Max Salminen, Sweden. Gold medal in the Star class in London (2012). Making the transition from a two person boat to one is a challenge, but Salminen trained with class veteran Jonathan Lobert, France, to get up to speed. He had moderately strong results in Rio, finishing sixth overall at the end of the regatta.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
RS:X Men
Dorian Van Rijsselberghe, Netherlands. Gold medal in the RS:X London (2012). Van Rijsselberghe officially had the gold medal wrapped up with a race to spare, but in his performance through the week he would have been a safe bet much earlier. He jockeyed with Nick Dempsey a few times, but with seven bullets out of twelve preliminary races, it was no surprise that he repeated his London gold.
Nick Dempsey, Great Britain. Silver medal in the RS:X in London (2016), Bronze in the RS:X in Beijing (2008) . It wasn’t just deja vu, Dempsey and Van Rijsselberghe indeed did repeat the top two tiers of podium as it was in London. For Dempsey, his silver in Rio made him the most decorated Olympic windsurfer in history with three medals.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
RS:X Women
Marina Alabau, Spain. Gold medal in RS:X in London (2012). In a seven way battle for medals in the women’s RS:X here in Rio, Alabau was in good position. She carried a DSQ on her scorecard which, while discarded, kept her from discarding any other high finish to possibly win the bronze medal. By finishing fifth in the medal race she ended up fifth overall.
Bryony Shaw, Great Britain. Bronze medal in the RS:X in Beijing (2008). In the later days of the Olympic regatta, Shaw looked like she might have recovered from her difficult start and have a chance at a medal. With the rest of the top of the class performing consistently on top, Shaw was out of podium contention before the medal race began, finishing in ninth overall.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
470 Men
Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente, Argentina. Bronze medal in the 470 London (2012), de la Fuente also won bronze in the 470 in Sydney (2008) with Javier Conte. The London medalists did not have a strong performance in the regatta, finishing the preliminary racing with a DNE penalty (cannot be thrown out) for failing to do a penalty turn in a port-starboard conflict with another boat, and failing to show up to their protest hearing that evening. The official decision can be found here. Calabrese and de la Fuente will finish 16th overall and not sail in the medal race.
Mathew Belcher, Australia. Gold medal in the 470 London (2012) with Malcom Page. Belcher now sails with Will Ryan. Belcher and Ryan are in medal contention, for any material, going into the medal race for the men’s 470 scheduled for Thursday. They’re one of three teams in contention for medals. They currently are in third place with 40 points, 13 points behind class leaders.
Luke Patience, Great Britain. Silver medal in the 470 London (2012) with Stuart Bithell. Tied with the Swedish team in points going into the medal race, Patience and his current crew Chris Grube are out of medal contention in fifth place. With a UFD, a 20 and a 21 on their score sheet, the British 470 men had an uphill battle to even get into the medal race. They are currently in sixth, outside of medal contention.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
470 Women
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, New Zealand. Gold medal in the 470 in London (2012). In an incredible rivial of their scores, Aleh and Powrie started the Olympics with a DSQ in their first race and a UFD in the sixth, forcing them to carry one of the penalty scores in their final points count. They also posted four bullets in ten races, putting them in second place overall going into the medal race and defending the silver medal against the teams below them.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, Great Britain. Silver medal in the 470 in London (2012). With incredibly consistent top-of-the-fleet results through all five days of preliminary racing, Mills and Clark clinched the gold medal in Rio before the medal race. They’ll sail their victory lap on Thursday, weather permitting.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
Nacra 17
Isabel Swan, Brazil. Bronze medal in the 470 in Beijing (2008) with Fernanda Oliviera. Sailing in the mixed multihull with Samuel Albrecht, Swan just held on to medal race position in the fleet before finishing 8th in the medal race and 10th overall. They had their moments of brilliance on the race course, but a mainsheet malfunction in the first day and hitting a submerged object during the medal race put them back further in the fleet.
Allan Nørregaard, Denmark. Bronze medal in the 49er in London (2012) with Peter Lang. Finishing outside of medal race contention, Norregaard and crew Anette Viborg stayed in the middle of the fleet for most of the regatta before and 11th and 15th in the last day of preliminary racing relegated them to 12th overall.
Santiago Lange, Argentina. Bronze medal in the Tornado in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) with Carlos Espinola. Lange and crew Cecilia Carranza Saroli were the human-interest story of the Rio Games. Lange, sailing in his sixth Olympics, was diagnosed with cancer last year and had half of a lung removed before qualifying and ultimately winning the gold medal with Saroli in the Nacra. Lange was the oldest Olympic sailor competing in Brazil, at 54. His sons, Klaus and Yago, sail in the 49er. Lange has not ruled out a seventh Olympics.
Sofia Bekatorou, Greece. Gold medal in the 470 in Athens (2004) with Emilia Tsoulfa, and bronze medal in the Yngling in Bejing (2008) with Virginia Kravarioti and Sofia Papadopoulou. Bekatorou and crew Michalis Pateniotis never quite got a hold of the Nacra 17 fleet in Rio, starting the regatta with a DNF and a DSQ, and scoring a UFD on the final day of preliminary racing, the duo fell to 18th overall and outside medal race contention.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition
49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, New Zealand. Silver medal in the 49er in London (2012). Burling and Tuke dominated the 49er scene, winning every regatta since London until a few weeks before the Olympics where they finished third in the South American championships. They came into the Games hot, scoring two bullets on their first day and holding the lead on the fleet from then on. Burling and Tuke, who are teammates with America’s Cup challenger Emirates Team New Zealand, clinched the gold medal before Thursday’s medal race.
Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, Australia. Gold medal in the 49er in London (2012). Though they’ve lost the gold medal spot for Rio, the America’s Cup Artemis Racing teammates are in third overall with a chance at silver or bronze in the medal race to be contested on Thursday.
Jonas Warrer, Denmark. Gold medal in the 49er in Beijing with Martin Kirketerp. Despite a rollercoaster of a preliminary series, including a DSQ and a bullet, Warrer and Christian Peter Lübeck will go into Thursday’s medal race in fifth, just outside of medal contention by two points.
Full results for all classes are available at sailing.org
