Silver takes Canadian Tornado crew to Beijing

by James Christie, Globe and Mail - Canada on 6 Mar 2008
Last week, Canadian Tornado sailors, Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle surprised everyone with their performance at the 2008 Tornado World Championships, finishing second after a string of double digit placings in the previous four years. Here's how their hometown newspaper reported their turnaround performance:

Canadian sailors Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle are the fastest-rising stars in Olympic sailing's fastest class.

Johansson, of Oakville, Ont., and Stittle, of Orangeville, Ont., confirmed their status as Olympic gold-medal contenders last weekend with a silver-medal performance at the Tornado class world championships off Takapuna Beach near Auckland on New Zealand's North Island.

The Canadians, who last year won the Olympic Week tune-up at Hyeres, France, finished the eight-race world championship series only five points behind the winning Australians, Darren Bundock and Glen Ashby. The final day of action was cancelled because of foul weather and poor visibility.

'We were so close to winning a world title,' Johansson said. 'We know we would have given the Australians a battle for the gold had the weather co-operated and allowed us to sail on the final day. We are still very thrilled with the result.'

Johansson, the skipper, and crewman Stittle counted two wins, a third place, two fourths, a seventh and a 19th among their results. They were allowed to drop their worst finish, 21st, but the 19th place in the sixth race hurt them. The French crew of Yann Guichard and Alexandre Guyader were third overall.

For Johansson, his second trip to sail under the Olympic rings will also entail a trip to the altar for a wedding ring - a trip he wasn't sure was in the cards.

Johansson, a Pan American Games gold medalist and five-time Canadian champion, competed at the Athens Olympics in 2004 in the Tornado class with John Curtis of Kingston. They finished 15th, and Johansson returned from the Games to tell his fiancée, New Jersey-born artist Crystal Bretschger, he might rededicate himself to sailing until the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Envisaging more years in the romantic doldrums, the fiancée suggested a long walk off a short pier for her sailor friend.

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