Star Olympic preview

by Courtesy ISAF on 10 Aug 2004 The Star Class keelboat is the longest included of all the Olympic Equipment, being first used in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Since that time, there has been relatively little change to its design. Subsequently, the Star has competed at every Olympic Games since, except 1976.

Past masters in the class include a long list of renowned professional and amateur sailors at the top of the game. This year will see another set of names added to that list and the event at the Olympic Sailing Competition in Athens promises to be one of the best yet.

The Star Class has not been involved in either of the two Olympic Test events in 2002 and 2003, so unlike the other Olympic events, there is no past evidence of form from the waters that will host the 2004 Olympic Sailing Regatta.

Two time Olympic Gold medallist in the class, Mark REYNOLDS will not be at this Olympic Games. Whilst he has already won the gold in Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney 2000, he was beaten in the physically tough, single regatta first past the post US Olympic Trials by none other than the renowned Paul CAYARD and crew Phil TRINTER (USA).

The two paired up when Cayard was helming America One and Trinter was a grinder. Whilst 2004 will be Cayard's first Olympics, his appearance will not be through lack of trying.

He has previously failed to make the Olympic team four times, though he was an alternate in 1984 - demonstrating again the diversity of the sport.

You may be renowned as an offshore and America's Cup helm, but the Olympic game is a totally different arena. Fortunately for Paul, he and Trinter dominated this year's US Trials, winning so faultlessly that they skipped the final two races of the 16 race qualifying series.

Cayard and Trinter are to carry the legacy of the USA into 2004. No fewer than seven of the fifteen Olympic Gold medals in the Keelboat Men event have been won by the nation that invented the Star Class and this year’s generation will no doubt be trying to make it an eighth.

Current World Champions Freddie LOOF and Anders ELKSTROM (SWE) may well have something to say about that however.

Going into Athens ranked first on the ISAF World Sailing Rankings, Loof, who has been to the last three Olympic Games in the Finn, and won a Bronze medal in the Finn class in 2000, has been on top form since moving into the Star class. Completing an historic double in winning this year’s European Championship as well as the Worlds, Freddie and Anders have staked an early claim on the top step of the podium and will be very difficult to beat when it comes down to racing.

Of the 17 teams and 34 athlets in the 2004 competition, 19 athletes have previously competed at Olympic Games in the past, either in the Star class itself, or in one of the other five men's events. Of those nineteen, six sailors already have Olympic medals, including Loof.

Another sailor already with a medal to his name is Britain's Iain PERCY. He finished first in the Finn Class in Sydney and then decided to move into the Star. Sailing with Steve MITCHELL, the pair took the fleet by storm initially, winning the World Championship in 2002 after barely having sailed the class for 12 months.

Since that time they seem to have gone slightly off the boil and been overshadowed somewhat by Loof and Elkstrom, but they are determined and hard workers and they are almost unbeatable in the stronger winds. If Athens delivers, so will this team.

Looking to the 2004 Star Class World Championship, mention has already been made of Freddie LOOF the defending World Champion, but perhaps more note should be made of the slightly surprise silver medallists Flavio MARAZZI and Enrico DE MARIA (SUI).

The 2004 Worlds marked their best ever result, and whilst they are ranked 11 in the world and 2004 will be their first Olympic appearance, they clearly have what it takes.

Back to the sailors at the top of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings for the Keelboat Men fleet who will also be in Athens, keep your eyes on Peter BROMBY and Lee WHITE (BER), Mark NEELEMAN and Peter VAN NIEKERK (NED), and Mark MANSFIELD and Killian COLLINS (IRL), world ranked 3, 4 and 5 respectively.

Wins at the most recent ISAF Grade 1 events, SPA and Kiel for Bromby and White, combined with top ten finishes at all of the events in which they have competed in 2003 and 2004, keep this pairing firmly at the front. A medal for the duo would mark a first for Bermuda, a nation which as yet has not achieved an Olympic medal in the sport of sailing.

Behind Bermuda in the ISAF World Sailing Rankings sits the Netherlands Mark NEELMAN and Peter VAN NIEKERK at number 4.

First entering the rankings in 1990, Mark has many years under his belt and two Olympic Regattas, Sydney 2000 where he placed 6 in the Star and Barcelona in 1992 with a fourth. Relatively new to the Star Class, crew Peter is no stranger to the Olympics having finished third in the Soling in Sydney 2000.

They have the experience, they have been in the pressurised environment of the Olympic competition, and they have the kudos of top 10 wins at every event in which they have competed since mid-2000, with the exception of 1 result – a clear indicator of everything to play for and achieve.

Whilst they have not won an event since 2003, Mark MANSFIELD and Killian COLLINS are renowned for being consistent, and as we know it is consistency that wins Championships and Olympic Sailing Competitions.

Mark is no stranger to the Olympic circuit, having competed in three ¬ Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney with finishes of 15, 12 and 14 respectively. Their goal for Athens – ‘a top five result, with an outside chance of a medal’.


The whole fleet reads like a who’s who of sailing and as one of the most well funded and competitive classes, picking absolute winners will be difficult, and the medal positions will go all the way to the wire.

Athletes like Xavier ROHART and Pascal RAMBEAU (FRA) are new into the class of masters but have brought a new and youthful look at the way the boat is sailed. They won the 2003 ISAF World Championships in the class in Cadiz last year, with Pascal only teaming up with Xavier literally weeks previously, and are another team representative of the Finn influence at the top of the fleet.

The wealth and depth of experience in the fleet is virtually unmatched in any of the other Olympic Events in Athens. Only four teams are making their Olympic debut here in Greece, with most sailors at their third or fourth Olympic Games.

Two athletes, Colin BEASHEL and Torben GRAEL competed in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and will be competing at their sixth Olympic Games. Grael, sailing with Marcelo FERREIRA (BRA) won the Gold medal the last time the Olympics were in USA, at Atlanta in 1996.

All in all, once racing starts for the men’s keelboat next week, all of this history and form guide will go out of the window as a new Olympic pecking order will be eked out over the period of eleven races. One thing is definite, there will be a new Olympic Champion in 2004.