Emotional Nacra gold for Argentina, first sailing medal for Croatia

by Andy Rice on 17 Aug 2016 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games - After a shaky weather forecast and a fear of lack of wind, the Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) course delivered some excellent conditions for four nail-biting Medal Races.

The oldest man in the competition, recently recovered from cancer, won a gold medal. Croatia won its first ever Olympic medal in sailing. And that's just the start of it.

Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) have won gold after a heart-stopping Medal Race in the Nacra 17 Mixed Multihull. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) took silver and bronze goes to Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank (AUT).

The Argentineans made hard work of the Medal Race, picking up a penalty early on to round the first mark at the back. But, they fought back to third by the top of the final lap, only to incur another penalty for sailing too close to the Austrians. After dropping the gennaker and taking their 360 penalty turn, Lange and Saroli rallied to cross the finish in sixth place, just seven seconds ahead of the Italian team.

It was a crucial seven seconds that gave gold to Argentina by a single point from Australia. The young Aussies crossed the finish behind the New Zealand team of Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (NZL), but more importantly finished ten seconds ahead of the Austrians who crossed for third place. Australia and Austria were tied on points, but silver goes to Waterhouse and Darmanin for their superior finish in the Medal Race.

Looking back at that extraordinary race, Lange commented, 'We started the Medal Race with an unfair penalty because the British didn't give us room to dodge the Australians. It was hard but we have sailed here many times since November when we came to live here. The wind was unstable, I saw it and I was quite sure how to do things, others were wrong. We sailed an incredible race.”

It has been an extraordinary Games for Lange, at 54 the oldest competitor in the sailing competition at Rio 2016. He has had the pleasure of watching his sons, Yago and Klaus, represent the nation in the 49er skiff, and he has survived cancer in the past year.

Lange says the rigors of his sport helped to save his life and return to competition after he lost half a lung to cancer just a year ago. His hectic schedule led to diagnosis of the disease, he said, while the experience of five Olympic campaigns, winning two medals along the way, was key in keeping him positive through his ordeal and returning for a sixth challenge.

Lange, with crewmate Carlos Espinola, won bronzes for Argentina at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 in the now discontinued two-person Tornado class event before combining with Saroli (ARG) in 2014 in the Nacra 17 mixed class, a new addition to the Olympic sailing schedule at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Plans were suddenly placed on hold in 2015 when Lange was diagnosed with cancer and eventually he had half his left lung removed. 'The six months I was dealing with that, I was so positive,' Lange said. 'Now when I look back it was a good experience, difficult, but I learned a lot. I was operated on in Barcelona and after five days I was cycling, in a month I was back sailing.”

Lange was reluctant to dwell too much on his cancer episode. 'This may help to give strength to many people who are going through what I've been through. But I prefer to focus on what we did athletically. The disease has nothing to do with it, it was a stone in the road. I became obsessed with getting to Rio very well prepared and we did.”

He was also reluctant to focus on his age. 'I am a firm believer that you carry your age in your heart and in the desire to do things, not in the numbers. I do not look at the number of your age, only the desire I have for my goals and to achieve them.”

Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser

Tom Burton (AUS) has won Olympic gold in the Men's One Person Dinghy after a tense pre-start battle with Tonci Stipanovic (CRO). Even if Stipanovic let gold slip from his grasp, he has still won Croatia's first ever medal in Olympic sailing. Sam Meech (NZL) took bronze.

With the Australian being the only sailor who could threaten Croatian gold, Stipanovic engaged Burton in an aggressive duel before the start. However, the match racing tactic backfired as the Australian turned the tables on his rival, with Stipanovic given a 360 degree penalty by the jury for failing to keep clear of Burton.

'I wasn't really going to engage especially with four minutes to go,” said Burton. 'There wasn't much point but he wanted to have a little bit of a go so I was just seeing what I could do. You just needed something to come off late so if it happens with two minutes to go it's not really effective so you do your penalty and it's over. We had a lot of talks the last two days about catch and release. Get a penalty and make it back for the start and it couldn't have come off any better. It was perfection nearly.”

Stipanovic was a long way last off the start line and had to play catch-up during the race. Burton was near the back too, and Meech was looking to capitalise on the situation with the New Zealander threatening Australia for the silver. However, Burton moved through the fleet to finish third across the line while Stipanovic never recovered from his bad start.

Robert Scheidt (BRA) may not have succeeded in his quest for a record sixth Olympic sailing medal in front his adoring home crowd, but the 43-year-old still gave the spectators on Flamengo Beach something to cheer about as the Brazilian legend sailed across the finish in first place. He had finished fourth overall, four points off a medal.

The new Olympic Champion Burton concluded, 'A few days into the regatta I thought I was out of it. I had a bit of a bad day and some tough situations but the amount of hours I put into it, the things I sacrificed like my sister's wedding, I didn't go to the Opening Ceremony and it's all worth it now.”

Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) has won the Laser Radial gold medal that eluded her four years ago. Silver went to Annalise Murphy (IRL), a sweet reward after finishing an agonising fourth place at London 2012. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) took bronze.

It was a tense Medal Race in light and fluky airs on the Pao de Acucar course in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. Bouwmeester looked to be in a good position during the early stages, but a big split developed in the fleet after the top of the final lap, and the Dutch and Danish contenders were dropped to the back. They could only watch as Murphy and the other front runners sailed away and across the finish line more than a hundred metres ahead.

It was so close between the front five boats on the final run, there was a chance the Irish sailor could steal gold from the Netherlands. But Murphy crossed the line in fifth, yielding the Olympic title to Bouwmeester. With Rindom back in eighth, Murphy had done enough to take silver. All three sailors celebrated and every one of them looked delighted to have emerged with a medal from perhaps the toughest sailing venue ever seen at an Olympic Games.

Bouwmeester now has the gold to go with the silver she took in London 2012. It was a tense moment for the Dutch sailor wondering if she'd done enough for gold. 'I didn't know who finished first when I crossed the line and Annalise looked so happy celebrating and I was like, 'Do I have it? Do I not have it? I think I have it but I'm not sure.' I didn't know - but now it feels so unreal and I am very happy.”

Murphy said, 'I don't know what to feel, I'm really happy, a bit shocked and I don't think it's going to sink in for a while. Marit's been sailing so well for the last eight years, she deserves the gold. It's an incredible feeling and I'm just so happy that I'm able to turn my fourth in London into a second here.”

Rindom admitted, 'I have a little bit of mixed feelings because it was not my best race but in total I'm very satisfied with my results. This was the goal from the beginning and now I made it. So of course I'm happy.”

Heavyweight Men's One Person Dinghy – Finn

Giles Scott (GBR) had already wrapped up the Finn gold medal before contesting the Medal Race today, but Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) secured silver, the third Olympic medal of his career, while Caleb Paine (USA) sailed a great race to clinch bronze on the Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) course.

All ten competitors had a shot at winning a medal of some colour, so close were the points going into today's finale. The exception was four-time and reigning World Champion Scott whose 24-point buffer made him unassailable for the gold medal. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) started the day in bronze medal position but the American Paine went better in the moderate winds to finish first across the line, which gave the ecstatic American the medal by a comfortable margin.

Scott said, 'It was great to be able to go out and enjoy that race today. The 17th place on day one on the Sugarloaf course was not the way I wanted to start the regatta and it wasn't until day three or four that I started to believe that the gold was in my grasp. Winning four World Championships is great, but this is one that everyone wants and everyone remembers, so now to have an Olympic gold is a great feeling.”

Zbogar commented, 'I feel relieved. I feel relieved that it's over. It just went well. I was only dreaming of it one week ago. I feel very happy because it's in a different class. The first two were in a Laser, this is in Finn. I am by far the oldest sailor in the Finn and this result is even more meaningful. My body is a bit old and I was struggling over the last few years and I continue pushing all the time. Fortunately, my mind is still 20 years old and I pushed every race as much as I could.

'I managed to survive the week and I just wanted to be in with a challenge of a medal. I had nothing to gain in the race, I had everything to lose, as Giles had gold. There was a small chance I could lose it. I knew I couldn't push too much but I did anyway. Second place for me is something unbelievable.”

After USA left London 2012 with no medals, Paine has brought an end to the medal drought for this great sailing nation. 'It's pretty awesome, it's been a pretty tough regatta and to be able to come away with a medal at the end is a great feeling. It was a tough push and a hard Medal Race but fortunately enough it makes it easier when you hit the right shifts off the bat and I just had to make sure I didn't mess it up. I was fortunate to establish a lead right ahead of time and let everyone else make mistakes and I sailed the best race I could.”

Pos	NOC	Crew	Race													Points
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	MR	Total	Net
1	ARG	Santiago Lange Cecilia Carranza Saroli	11	2	13	2	12	6	1	6	9	(21) BFD	2	1	12	98	77
2	AUS	Jason Waterhouse Lisa Darmanin	6	7	4	1	1	5	15	11	11	1	12	(17)	4	95	78
3	AUT	Thomas Zajac Tanja Frank	(12)	3	12	6	9	8	8	3	4	10	4	5	6	90	78
4	NZL	Gemma Jones Jason Saunders	9	(13)	7	5	4	2	4	8	12	13	13	2	2	94	81
5	ITA	Vittorio Bissaro Silvia Sicouri	10	12	3	3	3	7	6	(13)	13	2	7	4	14	97	84
6	FRA	Billy Besson Marie Riou	7	(17)	15	8	13	15	2	1	1	3	11	7	10	110	93
7	SUI	Matías Bühler Nathalie Brugger	1	6	6	(19)	11	18	10	7	5	5	1	10	20	119	100
8	USA	Bora Gulari Louisa Chafee	13	9	(21) RET	12	21 RET	4	9	2	8	8	9	3	8	127	106
9	GBR	Ben Saxton Nicola Groves	3	4	2	7	5	3	13	12	(16)	15	15	12	18	125	109
10	BRA	Samuel Albrecht Isabel Swan	17	1	17	9	2	16	12	4	(19)	7	8	8	16	136	117
11	ESP	Fernando Echávarri Erasun Tara Pacheco van Rijnsoever	16	(21) DSQ	5	16	15	10	11	5	3	4	10	6		122	101
12	DEN	Allan Norregaard Anette Viborg	8	8	9	14	10	12	(17)	9	7	11	5	15		125	108
13	GER	Paul Kohlhoff Carolina Werner	14	10	10	17	8	13	5	10	2	9	14	(18)		130	112
14	NED	Mandy Mulder Coen de Koning	5	11	(21) UFD	11	7	14	7	21 UFD	6	14	3	13		133	112
15	CAN	Luke Ramsay Nikola Girke	4	15	8	10	16	9	18	(21) UFD	15	12	17	9		154	133
16	ARU	Nicole van der Velden Thijs Visser	15	16	1	15	14	1	(19)	17	10	16	16	14		154	135
17	URU	Pablo Defazio Abella Mariana Foglia Costa	(19)	5	11	13	17	19	16	16	17	6	6	16		161	142
18	GRE	Sofia Bekatorou Michalis Pateniotis	(21) DNF	21 DSQ	16	4	6	11	3	15	14	18	21 UFD	19		169	148
19	SIN	Justin Liu Denise Lim	2	14	14	18	18	17	14	14	18	17	(21) UFD	11		178	157
20	TUN	Hedi Gharbi Rihab Hammami	18	(21) UFD	18	21 DNF	19	20	20	18	20	19	18	20		232	211

Pos	NOC	Crew	Race											Points
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	MR	Total	Net
1	AUS	Tom Burton	(17)	8	2	10	9	14	7	2	11	4	6	90	73
2	CRO	Tonci Stipanovic	1	5	7	12	6	7	(28)	9	7	3	18	103	75
3	NZL	Sam Meech	(19)	3	5	6	14	17	13	6	12	1	8	104	85
4	BRA	Robert Scheidt	23	1	(27)	4	11	2	4	5	26	11	2	116	89
5	FRA	Jean Baptiste Bernaz	11	10	4	17	5	(47) UFD	3	15	19	2	4	137	90
6	GBR	Nick Thompson	8	17	9	15	2	1	(24)	7	6	22	16	127	103
7	CYP	Pavlos Kontides	7	(31)	1	14	25	6	8	14	9	8	12	135	104
8	GUA	Juan Ignacio Maegli Aguero	18	14	3	7	16	(25)	18	17	3	7	14	142	117
9	NED	Rutger van Schaardenburg	3	21	(24)	8	1	4	22	4	21	24	10	142	118
10	ARG	Julio Alsogaray	4	2	14	1	24	(47) UFD	12	16	14	20	22 OCS	176	129
11	USA	Charlie Buckingham	20	7	10	22	8	(26)	15	10	10	6		134	108
12	ITA	Francesco Marrai	(39)	11	18	5	22	11	5	1	13	23		148	109
13	KOR	Jeemin Ha	26	6	(38)	3	12	9	10	21	8	14		147	109
14	GER	Philipp Buhl	16	16	8	13	17	13	1	25	(34)	17		160	126
15	RUS	Sergey Komissarov	2	9	19	23	7	10	16	(31)	28	15		160	129
16	SWE	Jesper Stalheim	10	23	26	28	10	15	2	3	20	(31)		168	137
17	BEL	Wannes Van Laer	27	(30)	12	11	23	12	23	13	1	18		170	140
18	POL	Kacper Zieminski	34	28	6	(47) DSQ	3	5	20	12	22	10		187	140
19	ISV	Cy Thompson	13	4	11	(35)	32	33	6	20	17	16		187	152
20	SIN	Colin Cheng	5	20	13	18	21	(47) UFD	27	22	25	9		207	160
21	EST	Karl-Martin Rammo	24	19	17	(44)	30	28	36	8	2	5		213	169
22	POR	Gustavo Lima	15	15	20	25	15	8	11	28	(38)	33		208	170
23	CAN	Lee Parkhill	(43)	37	33	9	19	20	14	23	4	13		215	172
24	ESA	Enrique Jose Arathoon Pacas	(33)	32	28	30	4	3	9	32	18	21		210	177
25	DEN	Michael Hansen	6	24	23	20	(31)	31	19	26	5	26		211	180
26	FIN	Kaarle Tapper	(32)	12	31	29	27	18	17	11	23	19		219	187
27	NOR	Kristian Ruth	(47) UFD	13	32	2	29	16	25	47 BFD	15	30		256	209
28	CZE	Viktor Teply	29	18	30	19	13	23	29	29	32	(34)		256	222
29	MNE	Milivoj Dukic	12	26	(35)	24	33	19	32	24	33	29		267	232
30	CHI	Matias Del Solar	22	(35)	22	32	35	24	34	33	24	12		273	238
31	PER	Stefano Peschiera	37	40	16	16	28	22	21	27	35	(47) DNF		289	242
32	IRL	Finn Lynch	14	27	15	39	18	27	33	30	40	(47) BFD		290	243
33	HUN	Benjamin Vadnai	9	44	21	21	(47) DSQ	30	30	39	29	25		295	248
34	TUN	Youssef Akrout	21	29	34	26	(38)	32	37	35	16	27		295	257
35	MAS	Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy	38	33	40	33	20	21	(47) RET	37	31	28		328	281
36	ESP	Joaquín Blanco	28	(47) DNF	25	40	26	29	26	47 DNE	30	35		333	286
37	THA	Keerati Bualong	25	38	37	31	37	39	35	18	27	(47) BFD		334	287
38	VEN	Jose Gutierrez	35	36	36	(42)	39	35	40	19	37	37		356	314
39	TTO	Andrew Lewis	42	34	39	36	40	34	31	(47) BFD	36	32		371	324
40	RSA	Stefano Raffaele Marcia	30	25	42	38	43	38	(44)	36	39	40		375	331
41	BER	Cameron Pimentel	31	(45)	41	27	44	42	39	34	42	39		384	339
42	MEX	Yanic Gentry	41	42	29	43	34	36	38	(47) DNF	41	36		387	340
43	EGY	Ahmed Ragab	36	22	44	41	41	41	42	40	(45)	42		394	349
44	COK	Peter Elisa Henry	40	39	43	34	36	40	45	(47) BFD	44	41		409	362
45	SEY	Rodney Govinden	45	41	(47) DNF	37	42	37	41	41	43	38		412	365
46	ANG	Manuel Lelo	44	43	45	45	(47) DNF	43	43	38	46	43		437	390

Pos	NOC	Crew	Race											Points
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	MR	Total	Net
1	NED	Marit Bouwmeester	6	4	(14)	4	1	6	6	13	5	2	14	75	61
2	IRL	Annalise Murphy	1	13	4	7	5	2	(17)	12	6	7	10	84	67
3	DEN	Anne-Marie Rindom	5	8	(38) DSQ	3	3	1	4	6	22	3	16	109	71
4	BEL	Evi Van Acker	2	12	2	(29)	16	15	11	2	1	5	12	107	78
5	FIN	Tuula Tenkanen	4	(16)	8.6 RDG	2	14	3	13	8	2	14	18	102.6	86.6
6	SWE	Josefin Olsson	17	5	7	17	7	4	3	14	(20)	10	6 DPI	110	90
7	LTU	Gintare Scheidt	(38) UFD	1	8	8	12	5	12	21	4	11	8	128	90
8	GBR	Alison Young	13	17	12	(26)	6	9	7	10	16	1	2	119	93
9	AUS	Ashley Stoddart	8	6	16	(28)	11	11	23	11	7	8	6	135	107
10	USA	Paige Railey	15	2	9	21	2	7	(25)	24	25	4	22 DPI	156	131
11	ARG	Lucía Falasca	7	11	19	15	20	22	1	15	3	(25)		138	113
12	CZE	Veronika Kozelska Fenclova	11	7	10	16	9	16	8	(22)	17	19		135	113
13	CRO	Tina Mihelic	(38) DSQ	3	11	10	4	14	38 DNF	5	23	16		162	124
14	HUN	Mária Érdi	20	22	1	5	(26)	20	10	18	9	20		151	125
15	TUR	Nazli Donertas	16	20	6	9	22	10	5	27	12	(28)		155	127
16	CAN	Brenda Bowskill	9	(30)	15	20	10	19	9	20	10	15		157	127
17	ESP	Alicia Cebrian	(27)	9	24	12	13	8	27	4	21	12		157	130
18	CHN	Lijia Xu	3	(38) DSQ	3	1	8	12	38 DSQ	38 DSQ	19	13		173	135
19	BLR	Tatiana Drozdovskaya	22	10	5	13	25	17	26	(30)	13	6		167	137
20	JPN	Manami Doi	21	14	18	(24)	24	23	2	1	15	21		163	139
21	FRA	Mathilde de Kerangat	23	15	(25)	14	17	18	14	9	14	22		171	146
22	ITA	Silvia Zennaro	10	24	23	18	15	21	15	16	(28)	17		187	159
23	NOR	Tiril Bue	18	18	13	6	19	24	22	25	18	(27)		190	163
24	BRA	Fernanda Decnop Coelho	14	19	20	19	(28)	26	16	23	8	18		191	163
25	URU	Dolores Moreira Fraschini	12	(32)	22	22	31	28	28	7	11	24		217	185
26	SIN	Elizabeth Yin	19	29	26	11	23	25	20	17	(38) UFD	23		231	193
27	POR	Sara Carmo	(34)	31	21	25	18	13	29	29	26	9		235	201
28	ARU	Philipine Van Aanholt	24	21	17	(32)	27	27	21	19	24	26		238	206
29	LCA	Stephanie Devaux-Lovell	29	25	29	(33)	30	29	24	3	27	30		259	226
30	TUN	Ines Gmati	28	23	31	23	21	31	19	28	31	(34)		269	235
31	PER	Paloma Schmidt Gutiérrez	31	26	28	27	29	30	18	(32)	30	29		280	248
32	THA	Kamolwan Chanyim	25	27	27	31	32	34	30	31	(38) UFD	31		306	268
33	MAS	Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif	26	33	33	30	33	(35)	31	26	29	33		309	274
34	BER	Cecilia Wollmann	32	28	32	(35)	35	33	34	33	32	32		326	291
35	COK	Teau Mckenzie	30	36	34	(37)	34	32	33	35	34	35		340	303
36	CAY	Florence Allan	35	34	30	36	(38) DNF	38 DNF	32	34	33	36		346	308
37	ALG	Imen Cherif Sahraoui	33	35	35	34	(38) DNF	38 DNF	35	38 DNS	38 DNS	38 DNC		362	324

Pos	NOC	Crew	Race											Points
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	MR	Total	Net
1	GBR	Giles Scott	(17)	3	2	1	11	1	1	3	8	2	4	53	36
2	SLO	Vasilij Zbogar	3	1	7	10	(15)	9	5	4	9	8	12	83	68
3	USA	Caleb Paine	7	10	(21)	3	14	2	17	7	10	4	2	97	76
4	BRA	Jorge Zarif	4	6	11	(22)	2	19	2	13	15	9	6	109	87
5	CRO	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	6	8	10	(15)	8	8	4	10	2	13	20	104	89
6	SWE	Max Salminen	(15)	11	13	9	7	5	6	11	7	5	16	105	90
7	NZL	Josh Junior	18	(24) DSQ	14	14	5	3	18	2	4	6	8	116	92
8	AUS	Jake Lilley	16	(24) UFD	8	6	6	4	3	5	23	16	10	121	97
9	ARG	Facundo Olezza	1	9	19	18	16	(22)	10	6	1	7	14	123	101
10	NED	Pieter-Jan Postma	14	13	12	4	4	6	14	1	19	(24) DSQ	18	129	105
11	GRE	Ioannis Mitakis	12	(24) DNF	3	2	13	12	21	9	13	3		112	88
12	HUN	Zsombor Berecz	9	(24) UFD	5	12	1	7	12	18	16	12		116	92
13	TUR	Alican Kaynar	2	5	6	(19)	19	13	8	17	12	11		112	93
14	FRA	Jonathan Lobert	10	(15)	1	7	12	14	11	12	14	14		110	95
15	FIN	Tapio Nirkko	20	7	15	5	3	(24) DNF	20	21	6	10		131	107
16	DEN	Jonas Hogh-Christensen	13	2	4	(24) DNF	10	11	16	16	17	20		133	109
17	NOR	Anders Pedersen	8	16	18	8	(22)	16	9	14	5	15		131	109
18	ITA	Giorgio Poggi	11	4	16	11	18	15	7	(19)	11	18		130	111
19	URU	Alejandro Foglia Costa	21	(24) UFD	9	17	20	21	15	15	3	1		146	122
20	EST	Deniss Karpak	5	14	17	20	(23)	10	13	8	18	21		149	126
21	CAN	Tom Ramshaw	19	12	(22)	13	9	17	22	20	20	19		173	151
22	CHN	Lei Gong	22	(24) DNF	20	16	21	20	19	22	21	17		202	178
23	SEY	Allan Julie	(23)	17	23	21	17	18	23	23	22	22		209	186