Olympics- Double Gold For Aussie Sailors
by AST Media on 18 Aug 2008
Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinon 470 Women Gold medal with their coach Victor Kovalenko - Day 10 Olympics - Qingdao 2008 Sail-World.com /AUS
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The Australian Sailing Team won two Olympic Gold medals in Qingdao today, with both the Men's 470 and Women's 470 crews claimed victory.
Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson, needed to keep The Netherlands boat at bay in order to win Gold and so covered them throughout the Women's 470 medal race. The Perth girls sailed a safe race with an eye on the Dutch at all times. They crossed the line in ninth position and won Gold with a 10 point lead.
Their training partners, Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page went into the Men's 470 medal race with a 22 point lead. They needed only to sail in the race to make the Gold medal a reality, but the Sydney pair sealed their victory with a race win, leading from start to finish.
Nicole Kidman, after whose movies Nathan and Malcolm named their boat 'Australia' (following a long tradition which goes back to their boat 'Bangkok Hilton'), has been in touch with the boys throughout their Olympic campaign and was thrilled when they won Gold today. She has been cheering them on from the film set and was one of the first to congratulate them on their win.
The good news continued for Australia with pleasing results in other class racing today.
In the Tornado Class, Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby are equal first on points with Spain.
The top two teams have a 12 point cushion over third placed Greece. Australia and Spain are on 20points, Greece is on 32 points and Argentina and Italy follow, tied on 33 points.
Sarah Blanck goes into tomorrow's Laser Radial medal race in 4th place overall, just 10 points off third and 14 points off second. However, the USA's Anna Tunnicliffe, sits in the lead with a 21 point gap on Blanck.
In the Women's Windsurfing (RS:X Class), Jessica Crisp still has everything to play for as the points at the top of the leader board tighten. In today's racing, Crisp scored a 14th and a sixth. Crisp is now fifth overall with 41 points, just four points away from third placed Spain and 11 points from the Italian leader.
Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey had race finishes today of second, 11th and 10th in the Star class. They are 15th overall.
Meanwhile, Tom Slingsby will not go through to the Laser medal race and has finished his regatta 23rd overall. It is a disappointing result for the ISAF World Ranked Number One but the Olympic experience Slingsby has gained will be invaluable for future success. We will see more of this young star within the sport of sailing for many years to come.
At a glance
Men's 470 - Gold
Women's 470 - Gold
Tornado - Equal 1st Overall
Laser Radial - 4th Overall
RS:X - 5thOverall
Star- 15th Overall<.i>
Laser - 23rd Overall - will not go through to medal race - competition finished
49ers- 5th Overall after medal race - competition finished
Yngling - 10th Overall after medal race - competition finished
Finn - 16th Overall - competition finished
Racing - Tuesday 19 August
- Sarah Blanck in the Laser Radial Medal Race (scheduled for 1pm Qingdao time)
- RS:X Women Race 10, Star Race 8, Tornado Race 8
Australian Team Insights:
Personal Mottos:
'Over and above any sporting or career ambitions, I want to be a happy and good person and to make other people smile.' - Olympic Gold Medallist, Elise Rechichi (Women's 470)
'Always give things your best go and if it means that much to you, don't give up!' - Olympic Gold Medallist, Tessa Parkinson (Women's 470)
www.australiansailingteam.com.au
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