Olympic Games 1996

TORNADO - RACE 11 RACE REPORT - 30 July 1996

Having won the gold medal yesterday in the Multihull (Tornado), Spain's Fernando Leon and Jose Luis Ballester chose not to compete in today's Race 11 leaving the rest of the fleet to sail and decide the silver and bronze medalists - with a remarkable seven crews in with a chance.

The major contenders for the final two medals going into Race 11 were Mitch Booth and Andrew Landenberger (AUS) on 32 points after discarding their worst two races; John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree (USA) on 37 points; Frederic Le Peutrec and Franck Citeau (FRA) on 38 points; Lars Grael and Kiko Pellicano (BRA) on 40 points; Walter and Marco Pirinoli (ITA) on 42 points; Roland Gaebler and Frank Parlow, current World Champions, (GER) on 43 points; and Andreas Hagara and Florian Schneeberger (AUT) also on 43 points.

With so much hanging on this race, the Race Committee did their utmost to set the fairest possible course and the familiar AP postponement flag was hoisted due to a windshift on the course.

The Race commenced at 13:55 hours with a south south-westerly breeze of 8 knots from 190 degrees and 2 foot swells. NZL, CAN and AUS got the best starts, gaining an early advantage by starting in clear air at the Committee boat end of the line.

While most of the fleet headed to the left-hand (seaward) side of the course, BRA, SUI, RUS and FRA went right, a surprising move for FRA as they were only one point behind USA going for the bronze medal.

At the first windward mark, the surprise leaders were Sergey Kravtsov and Viktor Budantsev (BLR) who were three boat lengths clear of AUT, followed by NZL, CAN, AUS, BRA, NED, GER, RUS, GBR, SWE, USA, FRA, SUI and FIJ with top ranked ITA near last in the fleet.

The spectator boats were too close to the Tornado's course, the officials were trying to keep off the course and at slow speed in the light winds.

At the leeward mark Andreas Hagara and Florian Schneeberger (AUT) had sailed through to the lead with Canada's Marc Peers and Roy Janse also passing Kravtsov and Budantsev (BLR), followed by BRA, NZL, GBR, AUS with ITA coming through from near last, followed by GER, NED, RUS, USA, FRA, SUI, UKR. John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree (USA) were keeping a tight cover on France's Frederic Le Peutrec and Franck Citeau, with these two crews placing third and fourth respectively in the overall points going into this race.

There had been a major change in the placings coming into the second windward beat, with Hagara and Schneeberger (AUT) still leading, however ITA had gone right and came in from near last to second. They were followed by BRA, BLR, CAN, NED, GBR, AUS, FRA, GER, USA, CAN and RUS - with the silver and bronze medals still wide open.

At the finish of this dramatic final race of the Tornado Multihull, ITA again showed strong downwind speed but it was AUT still in front as the fleet swept across the finish line to the hoots and cheers of the large spectator fleet. Third to finish was BRA followed by NZL, GER, NED, BLR, CAN, FRA, AUS, RUS, USA, SUI, GBR and FIJ.

With the gold medal already decided, the results of this 11th and final race granted the silver medal to Mitch Booth and Andrew Landenberger (AUS) with 42 points and the bronze medal to Lars Grael and Kiko Pellicano of Brazil on 43 points, just one point ahead of Hagara and Schneeberger (AUT) on 44 points.

This is Booth's second Olympic Medal, having won a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It is also Australia's second medal at the 1996 Olympic Regatta, with Colin Beashel and David Giles (AUS) winning the bronze medal in the Star class yesterday.

This is also the second medal at Savannah for Brazil, with Torben Grael (BRA) winning the gold medal in the Stars yesterday. Lars Grael is the younger brother of Torben Grael.