Rio Olympic sailing medals in the lap of the God

by John Curnow on 12 Aug 2016 Christ the Redeemer had a box office view of Guanabara Bay and Sugarloaf Mountain and looking ahead to the medal rounds of the 2016 Olympic sailing regatta, a religious relationship with his Dad could easily decide who stands on the podium come Sunday and next week.

As the 2016 Rio regatta approaches the half way mark, it’s obvious that the unpredictable Pão de Açúcar Sugarloaf course on which all the medal races will be run will mean that luck or prayers or both will play a significant part in the distribution of medals from Sunday onwards.

The Nothe Olympic medal race course in Weymouth back in 2012 was a little shifty and mostly light but there were hardly instances where clear leaders sailed into holes to be passed by a slew of boats, as has been happening routinely on the Sugarloaf course, over the last few days.

An example: It seems that The God decided on day three the Swiss Nacra 17 crew of Matias Buhler and Nathalie Brugger may well be atheists, with their leads of up to 200 metres twice disappearing in the lulls, with only some late prayers delivering them salvation.

So it seems that unless class leaders are able to sail so far ahead of their rivals over the coming days so that that the Medal race if for them a formality, then there will be some very nervous nellies coming the final double point medal race for each class.

One would have to think that Giles Scott could seal the Finn Gold before next Tuesday, leaving the silver and bronze at stake with a tight field including London silver medallist Jonas Hogh-Christensen (DEN) and PJ Postma (NED), fourth placed in London, along with young Australian giant Jake Lilley in his first Olympics.

New Zealand’s Pete Burling and Blair Tuke in the 49ers could also win before the medal ground will do the same, there is the form to show they can do it. Mind you in this quad, the London 49er Gold Medallists Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen have until recently hardly had a serious block of time in the skiff, until this last six weeks, so while they are underdogs, they could spoil the Kiwi party.

But again that fluky medal course will come into play and it’s very unlikely we will see the Aussie duo as relaxed as they were in Weymouth, with Nath sailing onto the medal course with his cap backwards.

It’s entirely possible that pre-Olympic favourites Australian’s Matt Belcher and Will Ryan and the Croatian team of Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic who have grown in confidence with their World Championship and World Cup wins and their current lead with just two races left before next Wednesday’s 470 Men’s Medal race, will be so far ahead of the balance of the fleet they could be match racing at the back of the fleet with their discards determining the outcome, that is if the third placed Greek crew of Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis allow them.

But after that it is difficult to see any of the closely sailed classes allowing the leaders breathing space, so Gold, Silver and Bronze placing could easily be decided on that Sugarloaf course and thus it could all be in the lap of the God.

Yet it won't be a Sugarloaf Shoot-out in the RS:X Mens class. In an uncanny repeat of four years ago, Dorian Van Rysselberge, the London 2012 Gold medallist has already claimed the Gold medal, before the medal race with Nick Dempsey (GBR) grabbing Silver as he also did in London 2012, the Bronze medal will be decided in the medal race on Sunday.