Olympic Games 1996

THE GAMES OF THE XXV OLYMPIAD

For the 1992 Olympic Regatta, preliminary entries indicated a total of close to 600 entries from 74 nations. Pressure from the IOC to limit the entries, however, led to many NOCs withdrawing their entries. The reason being that the IOC had indicated that only top competitors should attend and that there should be no more entries per team than in Pusan'88, despite the fact that the Olympic sailing programme had been extended by two events (Boards women and singlehanded women).

The final entry was from 68 nations (60 in 1988), a record in the IYRU's history with 443 competitors (excluding substitutes) (370 in 1988), ranging from 18 to 62 years of age with 82 competitors in the female events (42 in 1988); 147 competitors in the male events (136 in 1988) and 214 competitors in the open events (192 in 1988). Spain, of course, crowned their extensive preparation with four gold and one silver medals. France also did well with two golds, but the USA dominated the disciplines with nine out of a possible ten medals.

New Zealand too confirmed that they are a dominant sailing nation with one gold, two silver and one bronze. Denmark put on a great performance with a gold and bronze. The greatest medal for the sport however must be the silver medal won by the Chinese female boardsailor, the first ever Asian sailing medal.

THIS IS HOW THEY SAILED...

1. Franck David (FRA) 8 - 3 - 12 - 1 - 4 - 4 - 2 - 8 - 17 - 1 (70.70)
2. Mike Gebhardt (USA) 3 - 4 - 5 - 2 - 11 - 7 - 11 - 3 - 2 - 3 (71.10)
3. Lars Kleppich (AUS) 6 - 5 - 7 - 4 - 7 - 9 - 8 - 2 - 7 - 7 (98.70)

It was only in the last race that the gold medal was decided. USA's Gebhardt, leading before the last race, had to move into second position to win the gold as Franck David was winning the race. In the end only one nation separated him from beating Franck David.

1988 Olympic gold medallist Bruce Kendall (NZL) was in the running all week long winning races 6 and 7 but breaking his skeg in race 3 may have put him out of contention.

1984 Olympic gold medallist Stephan van den Berg (NED) also won two races but lighter winds brought him down the fleet. World Champion Barry Edgington (GBR) went home disappointed with a 12th overall.

Canadian Murray McCaig may have been the unluckiest competitor, breaking his leg in a car accident just prior to the first race.

Boards women (Lechner A-390)

1. Barbara Kendall (NZL) 1 - 10 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 3 (47.80)
2. Xiaodong Zhang (CHN) 2 - 5 - 6 - 6 - 3 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 4 - 8 (65.80)
3. Dorien de Vries (NED) 5 - 2 - 4 - 4 - 7 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - PMS (68.70)

Barbara Kendall (NZL) led all the way through, won with a comfortable 18 point lead and was the final womens gold medal winner for NZL in any sport for the last 50 years. Xiaodong Zhang (CHN) sailed extremely consistently to take away the silver medal. The last race between de Vries (NED) and Herbert (FRA) was decided at the start when both were early over the line and were disqualified. Italian Sensini may have been within grasp of a medal if it hadn't been for her two premature starts in the last two races.

Double-handed men (470)

1. Jordi Calafat/F. Sanchez (ESP) 1 - 10 - 1 - 1 - 12 - 10 - 32 (50.00)
2. Morgan Reeser/Kevin Burnham (USA) 13 - 2 - 6 - 17 - 1 - 7 - 14 (66.70)
3. Tonu Toniste/Toomas Toniste (EST) 10 -11 - 7 - 4 - 6 - 28 - 2 (68.70)

Calafat/Sanchez (ESP) - three wins in the first four races set the scene for the gold medal and a million dollars!

After their silver in Pusan the Toniste twins brought home the first Estonian medal.

Hunger/Schmidt (GER) destroyed their series on day 1 with a PMS and DNF, nevertheless only 14 points separated them from the medals.

Double-handed women (470)

1. Theresa Zabell/Patricia Guerra (ESP PMS - 2 - 3 - 1 - 4 - 1 - 7 (29.70)
2. Leslie Egnot/Janet Shearer (NZL) PMS - 5 - 1 - 9 - 1 - 6 - 1 (36.70)
3. Jennifer Isler/Pamela Healy (USA) PMS - 6 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 5 - 5 (40.70)

A premature start for all the eventual medal winners set the scene for a most interesting battle in the double-handed women's event. Three first places for Egnot/Shearer (NZL) made them a strong and surprising contender for gold however World Champions Zabell/Guerra (ESP) left no doubt as to who was the best.

1988 Olympic bronze medallists Moskalenko / Pakholtchick (EUN) came close to another medal and their fight with Isler / Healy (USA) went on into the protest room, but their plea was dismissed in Isler's favour.

Japan's Shige/Kinoshita were well on their way to bringing the first Japanese medal home but midway in the Regatta seemed to lose their form.

Multihull (Tornado)

1. Yves Loday/Nicolas Henard (FRA) 7 - 1 - 3 - 3 - 10 - 7 - 2 (40.40)
2. Randy Smyth/Keith Notary (USA) 1 - 2 - DSQ - 8 - 1 - 4 - 11 (42.00)
3. Mitch Booth/John Forbes (AUS) 10 - 4 - 6 - 6 - 2 - 1 - 5 (44.40)

Two Tornado races were abandoned when the time limit was exceeded, the second time would have given Smyth/Notary (USA) the gold medal. It was not to be however, and World Champions Loday/Henard (FRA) (crew Nicolas Henard had previously won the gold in 1988) took home the highest honours.

Fleet/Match Racing (Soling)

The USA team of Mahaney/Brady/Kern and the Danish team of Bank/Secher/Seier easily qualified for the Match Racing whilst Russell Coutts (NZL) second in the world match race rankings and Marc Bouet (FRA) were amongst those who did not qualify. Fernando Leon, sailing with Crown Prince Felipe and Alfredo Vazquez (ESP) did qualify but were eliminated after the round robin. Despite two recent knee operations, Jesper Bank went on in a most exciting final to win the gold.

Dinghy (Flying Dutchman)

1. Luis Doreste/Domingo Manrique (ESP) 1 - 2 - 9 - 2 - 2 - 3 - 13 (29.70)
2. Paul Foerster/Stephen Bourdow (USA) 6 - 1 - 1 - 1- 17 - 4 - 7 (32.70)
3. Jorgen Bojsen-Moller/Jens B-Moller (DEN) 11 - 3 - 10 - 5 - 1 - 2 - 2 (37.70)

Two World Champions and the 1988 gold medallists battled until the very last race and while Foerster/Bourdow seemed to have the edge with three wins in the first four races, Doreste/Manrique took home gold. A gap of more than 30 points separated the medallists from fourth place.

Two person Keelboat (Star)

1. Mark Reynolds/Hal Haenel (USA) 2 - 1 - 3 - 1 - 3 - 11 - DNC (31.40)
2. Roderick Davis/D. Cowie (NZL) 4 - 3 - 5 - 12 - 6 - 7 - 5 (58.40)
3. Ross MacDonald/Eric Jespersen (CAN) 3 - 12 - PMS - 2 - 19 - 4 - 2 (62.70)

After winning silver in 1988 Reynolds/Haenel (USA) won the gold medal with one race to spare. A close competition for the bronze separating places three to seven by less than nine points was decided in favour of MacDonald/Jespersen (CAN).

Single-handed men (Finn)

1. Jose Maria van der Ploeg (ESP) 2 - 6 - 3 - 5 - 2 - 1 - DNC (33.40)
2. Brian Ledbetter (USA) 12 - 1 - 4 - 10 - 10 - 2 - 6 (54.70)
3. Craig Monk (NZL) 23 - 11 - 1 - 7 - 17 - 6 - 1 (64.70)

Sailing extremely consistently Jose Maria van der Ploeg (ESP) did not need to sail the last race leaving a gap of more than twenty points over second placed Ledbetter (USA).

Hank Lammens (CAN) must have had mixed feelings when disqualified for not having a life jacket on board, losing a first place and starting prematurely in race 3. World Champion Eric Mergenthaler (MEX) was the great disappointment with a 19th overall.

Single-handed women (Europe)

1. Linda Andersen (NOR) 9 - 12 - 1 - 1 - 3 - PMS - 5 (48.70)
2. Natalia via Dufresne (ESP) 8 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 7 - 5 - 8 (57.40)
3. Julia Trotman (USA) 1 - 2 - PMS - 3 - 4 - PMS - 9 (62.70)

Scandinavian dominance was predicted and Linda Andersen (NOR) took gold home, much helped by two premature starts from Julia Trotman (USA) who won bronze but was only separated from eighth position by seven points!