Olympics - Day 9- Zach Railey Wins Silver

by Derby Anderson on 18 Aug 2008 Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) has won the silver medal in the Finn class at the 2008 Olympic Games by finishing in fifth place in today’s medal race. In addition to the final race for the Finn class, the 49er and Yngling fleets held their last races as well. In the 49er, Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.) and Chris Rast (San Diego, Calif.) were unable to finish their final race due to an equipment breakdown.

The USA is out of medal contention in that class, but there is a protest pending which affects the medal positions, so no medal ceremony was held this evening pending final results. In the Yngling class, Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) finished in tenth place in the double-points medal race, and finished seventh overall.

Railey sailed a consistent regatta, never falling below second place since racing started eight day ago. After today's race, he said, “I came here to stand on the podium. My goal was to get a medal. Now it’s a big relief and I’m proud to win a medal for the United States. It feels amazing. All of that hard work was worth that moment [of winning] and I just wish it had lasted a little longer!” He concluded, “I’ll have to come back in 2012 and do it again.”

Railey said about his thoughts going into today's race, “Eight to ten guys here could make it to the podium, and I knew I was one of those eight to ten guys.” Railey’s coach, Kenneth Andreasen, said, “Everything came together and we peaked at the right time. That’s not a coincidence. We trained for this and had a very detailed plan.”

After he was awarded his silver medal with its jade inner ring, Railey gave his flowers to his mother. Wrapped in an American flag, he walked into the press conference. During the conference, gold medalist Ben Ainslie said of Railey’s performance, “Zach was consistent. He made life very difficult for me. So very well sailed.”


Team Leader Dean Brenner was ecstatic for Railey’s achievement. Brenner greeted Railey at the dock with cheers and a huge hug. He said, “I’m extremely proud and happy for Zach, he worked hard for it.” Brenner said, “I’m most proud of the fact that we were in the hunt for three medals in all three of today’s medal races. I wish more had gone our way, but that’s sailboat racing in 25 knots of breeze. Tim, Chris, Sally, Carrie and Debbie represent the best of what we want our athletes to be.”

The Yngling medal race was run today in 11-16 knots. With the current ripping downwind and pressure running high, the USA Yngling tacked short of the windward mark layline and hit the mark on both laps of the race. They were flagged for kinetics just at the finish and had to do a penalty, finally finishing in tenth. They had made comebacks after each penalty but overall encountered too many obstacles to rescue the race. This team had high hopes for a medal, but ended the event in seventh overall out of fifteen Ynglings. Skipper Barkow said, “It was a hard race. I think we did a great job to come back, but we made the same mistake twice.” The Yngling class was won by Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson of Great Britain, with the Dutch and Greek teams in silver and bronze.

The 49er medal race was a wild one today, with big waves and winds in the high teens. Moments before the race started, the USA boat of Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast broke down as their jibsheet block pulled out of the throat of their boat. They were able to complete a makeshift repair and managed a great start, but the repair broke down soon after the start. Even after a second repair, Wadlow and Rast did not cross the finish line within the allotted time and were scored as Did Not Finish (DNF). Almost every boat on the course flipped and the medal positions switched constantly throughout the race. At press time, the jury was still hearing protests, which could affect the medal positions, although USA is out of medal contention. The medal ceremony is now scheduled for Monday.

In the Laser Radials, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) excelled in the stronger winds and scored a third in today’s only race. This moves her back up to second place overall in the 28-boat fleet. Though all of the Laser Radial sailors had worked for weight loss, Tunnicliffe made sure she did hers early. She said, “I lost weight in February and March to make sure I could get my strength back by the Olympics. I was psyched for the breeze because I knew it would do damage to some of the other girls.” Tunnicliffe said she hiked extra hard on the second half of the first beat to make it to the mark in first place, but then fell to third later in the race. After six races, Tunnicliffe has still not sailed a throwout and all of her competitors have.

In the Star class, John Dane (Gulfport, Miss.) and Austin Sperry (Gulfport, Miss.) sailed a 12th in today’s only Star race. In winds of 19-20 knots, both the Australian and Croatian boats broke their masts. Dane and Sperry now sit in fifth place overall.

Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) was black flagged in today’s Laser race along with six other boats. He now sits in 19th overall, but has three races tomorrow to catch up.

In the Tornado, John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Texas) raced in 19-21 knots and finished in eleventh place in their 15-boat fleet. They now sit in thirteenth overall.

RS:X Men and Women were able to complete both of today’s scheduled races. They both had tough days in the breeze and Barger now sits in 26th of 35 boards, while Rios sits in 26th of 27.

Lasers, Laser Radials, Stars, Tornados, and RS:X Men and Women are all scheduled for early starts tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. They all are catching up for missed sailing and will go for three races. The early start may actually be complementary to the forecast, which is for eight knots in the morning and dying throughout the day.

Current Standings for U.S. Sailors
Star: 16 boats
1. Kusznierewicz and Zycki (POL), 5, 6, 8, 2; 21
2. Rohart and Rambeau (FRA), 12, 1, 5, 4; 22
3. Loof and Ekstrom (SWE), 1, 4, 15, 3; 23

5. John Dane (Gulfport, Miss.) and Austin Sperry (Gulfport, Miss.), 8, 2, 4, 12; 26

Finn: 26 boats Medal Race
1. Ainslie (GBR), (10), 1, 4, 1, 1, 10, 2, 2, 2; 23
2. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.), 2, 5, 2, 2, 7, 8, 7, (19), 12; 45
3. Florent (FRA), 5, 8, 20, 3, 4, 6, 4, (21), 8; 58

Laser Radial: 28 boats
1. Volungeviciute (LTU), 3, (13), 8, 1, 1, 4; 17
2. Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), 4, 5, (6), 5, 6, 3; 23
3. Jo Aleh (NZL), (22), 4, 2, 2, 2, 14; 24

Yngling: 15 boats Medal Race
1. Ayton, Webb and Wilson (GBR), 2, 3, 4, (7), 4, 2, 2, 5, 2; 24
2. Mulder, Bes, Witteveen (NED), 9, 1, 2, (13), 1, 5, 4, 1, 8; 31
3. Bekatorou, Papadopoulou, Kravarioti (GRE), 10, 12, 9, 3, 2, (OCS), 3, 3, 6; 48

7. Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), (14), 2, 8, 5, 6, 11, 1, 10, 18 ; 61

49er: 19 boats Medal Race
1. Warrer and Ibsen (DEN), 2, 4, (10), 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 9, 2, 7, 8, 14; 61
2. Martinez and Fernandez (ESP), 1, 10, 17, 2, (20/OCS), 5, 7, 10, 3, 4, 1, 2, 2; 64
3. Peckolt and Peckolt (GER), (15), 6, 11, 6, 3, 2, 2, 12, 4, 5, 4, 7, 4; 66

6. Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.) and Chris Rast (San Diego, Calif.), 5, 14, 15, (16), 5, 10, 1, 1, 1, 3, 8, 4, 22/DNF; 89

Tornado: 15 boats
1. Echavarri and Blanco (ESP), 1, 6, 1, 4; 12
2. Bundock and Ashby (AUS), 5, 4, 3, 1; 13
3. Paschalidis and Trigonis (GRE), 2, 5, 12, 7; 26

13. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Texas), 14, 12, 7, 11; 44

Laser: 43 boats