Australia wins first Sailing Gold Medal
by Rob Kothe on 16 Aug 2008
Qingdao Olympic Regatta 2008. Nathan Wilmot (l) and Malcolm Page (AUS) this afternoon Guy Nowell
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Australian sailors Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page guaranteed a Gold Medal for Australia in the 470 Mens Class this afternoon took an unbeatable 22 point lead going into the 470 Medal Race.
A third place and a tenth in races nine and ten, gave then a ten race series total of 42 points, while the Dutch Coster brothers have 64 point. In third place are the French pairing of Nic Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset on 64 points.
Dockside, most of the Australian team came down to support their 470 Men.
An Australian reporter asked 'How does it feel winning the first Gold Medal for Australia and beating the Brits?
'It does not get any better than that does it' laughed Malcolm Page
'We’ve had enormous support from everyone and some pretty amazing support too. During the week I bumped a call from Nicole Kidman, then 30 seconds later got an SMS wishing us the best. It made good conversation at breakfast.'
Nathan Wilmot explained 'There have been six boat we named after her movies, our favourite move is Dead Calm. – that is the boat we won the test event in, appropriate for the venue. But Australia is the name of this boat and that’s turned out to be the best boat name we’ve had.
The Australian pairing have been dieting for a decade, nNow they are on the eve of their retirement. What are you going to eat tonight, they were asked?- 'A lot, we don’t know what, just a lot..'
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