Monday, August 18, 2008 at 08:16AM Monday, August 18, 2008 at 08:15AM Paul Goodison had a phenomenal day in the Laser, all but securing a silver medal and looking well placed to wrap up gold in the Medal Race. What did he put today's success down to? "Patience. A lot of people tacked back too early, ended up fighting in the middle of the course. I held my nerve a bit and kept waiting for things to come back my way."
Monday, August 18, 2008 at 08:14AM I asked Nathan Wilmot how much he weighed. "62 kilos," said the new 470 Olympic Champion. "How much will you weigh in a year's time, Nathan?" I then asked. "80 kilos," came the reply.
Monday, August 18, 2008 at 08:12AM I haven't heard the sailors complain one bit about the Medal Race here. That's not to say everyone's happy with it. The sailors here are so locked into the task at hand that they don't stop to question the Medal Race. It's something they have to get on with and make the best of. The discussions about its merits or otherwise can be dealt with afterwards.
From the media's perspective, I would say the Medal Race has been a massive success. The 470 Men's race was fantastic today. OK, the Aussies had wrapped up the gold anyway, and it was nice to see Nathan and Malcolm sign off their remarkable career with a Medal Race victory. But the battle for the minor placings was extraordinary, and nailbiting. The Brits thrived under the pressure, and the Dutch made a hash of it. The Medal Race format magnifies the sailors' strengths and weaknesses, and creates a package that the TV producers might just understand. It's not fashionable to praise ISAF for such things, but I think this is one innovation that has worked. I've written a couple of race reports on the 49er and the Men's 470s which should be appearing soon on www.yachtsandyachting.com
Monday, August 18, 2008 at 12:35AM Congratulations to Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp - surprise but deserving winners of the 49er Gold Medal.
I spoke to head of the Jury David Tillett and asked how he and his colleagues had come to such a controversial conclusion. After all, borrowing somebody else's boat (with Croatian insignia all over it) at the very last second, and racing in the Medal Race is highly irregular.
"We like things to be decided on the water," said Tillett, "although we also recognise that rules are rules. We looked at a number of discressionary criteria that were available to us to discuss, the camera not being on the boat, the measurement issues, but we felt these did not affect their performance."
So why did it take so long to come to this conclusion, well into last night and most of this morning? "There was a lot of evidence to consider in respect of the circumstances," he said. No doubt the Spanish, who have now missed the gold, had a few things to say, but Tillett made a point of mentioning the sportsmanship between the teams.
"At the end of the hearing the guys hugged each other and congratulated each other. The sportsmanship was excellent." And so it should be. The 49er is a physical boat where you're often competing against your own limits, and yesterday's Medal Race was a perfect example of that. Using a borrowed boat in some of the wildest conditions any of these sailors has experienced would have made the Danes' task all the more difficult. The rig settings would have been in the wrong place, ropes and other little bits and pieces would have been unfamiliar, but still they battled home to 7th place in that demolition derby.
It's a great result for the Danes, but it's a good result for the Jury too. For the results on the water to take precedence over the letter of the law is a triumph of the Olympic spirit.
Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 08:34AM Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 08:33AM Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 08:01AM Normally after a Medal Race there are three teams who are overjoyed, and seven very sad ones. But today the sailors were so hyped up I think they forgot to be sad. I really thought Nathan Outteridge would be difficult to approach. The young Australian capsized just before the finish line. If he had stayed upright he could well have won gold and we wouldn't be facing this Danish controversy.
I thought Nathan would be gutted, and some time later tonight or tomorrow it will probably sink in, how close he and Ben Austin came to gold here but let it slip from their grasp. "We've just spent an hour and a half trying to sail back in," he joked to British 49er sailor Stevie Morrison. They were sharing war stories when I interrupted and asked Nathan what he thought about the Danes competing. "I didn't see them out there, where were they?" he asked. "You know, they were in the Croatian boat," I replied. "What? I saw the Croatians out there and wondered what they were up to. I thought it was strange them being out training during the Medal Race!" said Nathan, who by now was very confused.
Nathan and Stevie swap war stories
Everyone was confused. We still are! It's been that kind of day. Extraordinary. I went up to congratulate Xabi Fernandez, the 2004 Olympic Champion, who could yet be crowned Champion again, depending on the Danish outcome. "We sailed terrible today," he frowned in disgust, as he started talking me through every detail of his errors during the race. "But you won the race," I reminded him, "and you've won a Medal! It might even be a gold!"
It's great catching sailors as soon as they get off the water from a race like that. They're so shell shocked and wide eyed, they don't even know when to be happy. It was hilarious.
