Throwback Thursday – Atlanta 1996 Superstars sail up storm in Savannah

by Fi Edwards - World Sailing on 7 Jul 2016 Ask an Atlanta local when to visit and chances are the end of July won’t be first choice. Weather conditions during the last two weeks of the month can be notoriously brutal and the summer of 1996 was no exception. During the day the mercury regularly climbed to 35° or 40° and came accompanied by fearsome storm-heralding humidity of 89%.

The opening ceremony at the sailing venue, in Savannah 500km from Atlanta, had to be called off after an hour as the thunder raged. The competition on the waters of the Wassaw Sound would be as intense as the weather.

Despite the storms, around 1000 spectators a day made use of the opportunity to board boats that sailed out to the courses to provide a close look at the racing. They were looking for a show and sailing delivered in spectacular style thanks, in part, to the rivalry between two young sailors, Robert Scheidt (BRA) and Ben Ainslie (GBR).

Scheidt was at the top of his game, Ainslie a rising star. The pair had battled each other throughout the week sharing five race wins out of ten in Savannah. Heading into the 11th and final Laser race Scheidt held a two-point lead over his rival. As long as Ainslie didn’t finish three places in front of him gold was secure. The set up for a battle of wits on the race course couldn’t have been more perfect.

On the water tension was high. The first attempt at a start for the Laser fleet resulted in a general recall as boats jostled for position. The second ended the same way. Time was creeping on, the audience were growing impatient. As the four-minute gun went for the third time the race committee hoisted a visual signal that brings an ominous feeling to any startline; the black flag. The black flag makes sailors twitchy because it signals the switching on of rule 30.3: instant disqualification for any boat over the line after the one-minute signal even if the race is restarted, resailed or rescheduled. The raising of the black flag might have indicated to other competitors that it was time to plan for a more conservative start, but for Scheidt it would signal a golden opportunity.

Sailing’s scoring system in Savannah dictated that 11 races would be sailed and each boat’s best nine results would be counted. Scheidt’s discards were better than Ainslie’s, to count one would still deliver him the gold medal where, counting his own better result, Ainslie would have to settle for silver. Trusting to the outcome of the race was not a risk the Brazilian would have to take if he could push his teenage rival over the line in the final minute.

It couldn’t and wouldn’t be a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’. Scheidt’s masterful boat handling was already legendary in the Laser fleet but it would be on this start that it would be demonstrated to full effect. The Brazilian was comfortable; feeling the pressure but able to stand it, Ainslie on a high and brimming with anticipation and nervous energy. With brutal efficiency Scheidt finessed the impatient British teenager over the line. Ainslie could only watch as the race went on without them, battle denied and his gold medal hopes gone. Robert Scheidt had won Olympic gold.

Scheidt’s first gold in Atlanta would be joined by another gold, two silver and one bronze as well as eleven world titles. Most athletes might look at a career like that and call it job done but Robert Scheidt is not most athletes. The Brazilian Laser legend’s attitude and drive have kept him at the top of the sport for more than two decades. This year, in just twenty-nine days time, twenty years after winning his first gold in Savannah, Robert Scheidt will line up on the Laser start in Rio de Janeiro. In body he might be forty-three, but in soul he will be twenty-three again. Driving him is a dream, a dream to take a medal on Guanabara Bay in front of a home crowds. A final accolade to complete the impressive tally which makes him Brazil’s all-time greatest Olympic athlete.