Olympic Games 1996

IYRU Olympic Update

STAR - RACE 10 RACE REPORT - 29 July 1996

Course Area Charlie - Course Format Windward Leeward Extra (WX)

GOLD - BRAZIL SILVER - SWEDEN BRONZE - AUSTRALIA

Brazil's Torben Grael (BRA) today won his third Olympic medal, but his first gold, when he finished at the top of the scoreboard in a hard-fought 10-race series for the Two-person Keelboat (Star) along with his crew, Marcelo Ferreira. The silver medal went to Hans Wallen and Bobbie Lohse(SWE) and the bronze medal Colin Beashel and David Giles (AUS).

Going into today's final race, Grael and Ferreira (BRA) led by just one point from Beashel and Giles (AUS) with Wallen and Lohse (SWE) only four points further back.

The gold medal was made somewhat easier for Grael (BRA) when Beashel (AUS) was judged PMS (premature starter) after two general recalls. "We decided to go for gold and go for an aggressive start, but we were just a little too keen," Beashel said later. "We had the break on Brazil as we neared the windward mark in fourth place only to see our name on the PMS board."

This left the gold medal between SWE, who was leading the race and BRA, who at one stage was back in sixth place. However, with the premature start of AUS and ITA, the Brazilian moved into fourth place. "We tried to push Beashel over the line but he got a better start for us and we thought is was going to be a hard race to catch him," said Grael. "But when we got to the weather mark and saw his name on the board, we knew we had the gold medal won."

Race 10 began at 13:44 after two general recalls with the Race Committee hoisting code flag Indigo that indicated any premature starters must return around the outside of the flags. There was an individual recall but no boats returned.

Enrico Chieffi and Roberto Sinibaldi (ITA) and Beashel and Giles (AUS) got the best start in the middle of the line and it looked as if they might have been over at the gun. Grael and Ferreira (BRA) tacked away to get clear air, while Beashel and Giles (AUS) continued on starboard tack.

In the two earlier starts the two competition leaders had tailed each other within a boats length. Sailing conditions were quite ideal, 10 knots of southerly seabreeze, but there were big windshifts that required good tactical sailing skills.

Wallen and Lohse (SWE) led the fleet around the first windward mark by six seconds from Jose Doreste and Javier Hermida (ESP) and Mark Mansfield and David Burrows (IRL). With ITA and AUS pulling out of the race, BRA was in fourth place followed by CAN, AUT, POR, USA, GBR, BER, NZL, GRE, BAH, FIN, DEN, ARG, HUN AND RUS. The premature start in this final race cost Beashel (AUS) a gold medal on his fourth attempt in the Star class, but he still had a chance for a bronze medal after discarding this disastrous final race.

At the second windward mark the positions were as follows: SWE, ESP, BRA, IRL, USA, AUS, BER, CAN, GBR, GRE, NZL, DEN, POR and BAH. SWE continued to hold a comfortable margin in this final race but BRA had moved up to third place in the last legs of the course. It looked at this stage that BRA did indeed have a firm grip on the Gold medal as SWE had to beat them by at least six places to oust them from first overall.

In a spectacular downwind finish, Wallen and Lohse (SWE) finished just one second ahead of Doreste and Hermida (ESP),with Grael and Ferreira (BRA) crossing third to ensure their gold medal. Then came IRL, USA, BER, AUT, CAN, GBR, NZL, GRE, BAH, DEN, PLO and GER.

Grael (BRA) won a silver medal in the Star class at Los Angeles in 1984 and a bronze medal at Seoul in 1988. He received a tumultuous welcome from the spectator boats when he crossed the finish line. Waiting to greet him were his fellow team members from the Finn class who had waited at sea to watch the finish and the 470 men who were on Charlie course preparing for their races.

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