Ainslie protested

Disaster for British Finn hope on day one of Olympic Games reports Andrew Preece in Athens

The British foundations were rocked three hours after racing when Ben Ainslie was recalled from the British team hotel to answer a protest from the French Finn sailor Guillaume Florent. Ainslie had saved himself from complete disaster in the first Finn race of the Games when he rallied from 13th around the first mark to finish ninth in light and shifty winds. But as Ainslie hunched his head, blasted off the pin end of the line and thrust off up the left hand side of the track into the 13 knot sea breeze of race two, things where looking promising. The Pole Mateusz Kusznierewicz was two lengths to windward of Ainslie and matching Ainslie for upwind speed to round ahead, but when the pair headed downwind for the first time already clear of the chasing pack, Ainslie sailed past Kusznierewicz downwind with better downwind technique and aggressive use of the small sea breeze-driven waves. It should have been race over right there but on the second downwind Ainslie gybed onto port and allowed Kusznierewicz to split. The Pole found a shaft of stronger breeze, and put 50m onto Ainslie by the bottom mark.

A lap later and Ainslie was finally forced to settle for second and that should have been a reasonable end to a difficult day and a fourth place overall overnight with Poland on a roll. But after Ainslie had visited the BBC in the Mixed Zone and talked of his satisfaction at a reasonable outcome to day one, he was unaware that the Frenchman was filing a protest.

It could be terminal. I was watching from the host broadcast TV boat about ten minutes into the first beat of Race 2. Ainslie, hard out to the left with Kusznierewicz, was taking chunks back into the middle of the pitch with the Pole keeping a loose cover. On the second or third time Florent was coming across on starboard. Ainslie looked under the boom. From where I was positioned I thought he was going to duck but he sneaked across on port without, it appeared, having to alter course. The Frenchman tacked on Ainslie’s hip but didn’t appear to protest though Ainslie was looking back and looking for confirmation that he was clear. It appeared that all was well…

Until shortly before 1900 local time when Britain’s brightest hope was thrown out. A DSQ added to a first race ninth sent Ainslie cascading down the rankings.

"As far as I’m concerned there wasn’t any incident and I wasn’t in the wrong," said a devastated Ainslie from the team house. "He tried to make something of it as it was the Olympics and I’ve got no witnesses and there were no jury [in the vicinity]. I’m frustrated, disappointed and angry and all I can do is get my head down and sail the best I have ever sailed from here."

The problem for Ainslie is that where it looked like Kusznierewicz had given up hope of ever being able to beat him at the Finn Worlds in Rio a few months ago, the Pole is looking strong and confident. And with only one discard in the eleven race series it will be a big performance to come back from here. But if anyone can do it then it is Ainslie. "I seem to thrive under pressure," he said prior to the Olympics. Well now he has some pressure to thrive on! And we will all be delighted if he prevails.

Until Ainslie’s protest came to light the big story of the day was Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield’s performance in the Men’s 470. It was a tricky day with the sea breeze coming in relatively weakly and the wind flicking left and right and giving a high-scoring tint to the overerall results. Through all of that Rogers and Glanfield started mid-line in both races and fired home a second and a third to lead the field.

"It’s knowing when it’s going to flick left and further left or whether it’s going to flick right and that’s something we have spent a lot of time on," said Rogers. "I think some people were surprised by how the wind behaved today but not us," said the member of a British team that has been set up here in Athens for several years and whose sailors surely know the conditions better than any other team competing.

And Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton will be happy to be lying third overall overnight with another consistent pair of races. The trio finished fifth and fourth where the Dutch one place ahead finished eighth and first and will be looking forward to the forecast Meltemi tomorrow where they would expect to be more comfortable.

The mood here is subdued after a day where Britain had set off on an encouraging path. Anyone who has talked about betting their houses on a gold medal would always put Ainslie at the top of their list not just from the British team but from all of the 400 sailors here. While today was still encouraging from a British perspective, to watch the standard bearer fall dramatically from grace at such an early stage is not easy viewing.



Overall results:

Pos	Name	Nat	R1	R2	Tot
	FINN
1	Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ	POL	3	1	4
2	Emilios PAPATHANASIOU	GRE	1	5	6
3	Karlo KURET	CRO	6	2	8
4	Rafael TRUJILLO	ESP	8	3	11
5	Guillaume FLORENT	FRA	7	7	14
6	Dean BARKER	NZL	5	10	15
7	Ali ENVER ADAKAN	TUR	2	15	17
8	Kevin HALL	USA	11	6	17
9	Jonas HOEGH-CHRISTENSEN	DEN	16	4	20
10	Joäo SIGNORINI	BRA	15	9	24
11	Michael FELLMAN	GER	14	11	25
12	Daniel BIRGMARK	SWE	12	13	25
13	Anthony NOSSITER	AUS	18	8	26
14	Gasper VINCEC	SLO	4	24	28
15	Richard CLARKE	CAN	10	18	28
16	Michael MAIER	CZE	13	17	30
17	Sebastien GODEFROID	BEL	19	12	31
18	David BURROWS	IRL	17	14	31
19	Ben AINSLIE	GBR	9	26/DSQ	35
20	Balazs HAJDU	HUN	24	16	40
21		NED	22	19	41
22	Michele MARCHESINI	ITA	21	20	41
23	Alejandro COLLA	ARG	20	21	41
24	Vladimir KRUTSKIKH	RUS	23	22	45
25	Imre TAVETER	EST	25	23	48
	470 MEN
1	Nick ROGERS	GBR	2	3	5
	Joe GLANFIELD
2	Alexandre PARADEDA	BRA	5	1	6
	Bernardo ARNDT
3	Paul FOERSTER	USA	1	8	9
	Kevin BURNHAM
4	Kazuto SEKI	JPN	3	7	10
	Kenjiro TODOROKI
5	Eugen BRASLAVETS	UKR	10	4	14
	Igor MATVIENKO
6	Andreas KOSMATOPOULOS	GRE	9	6	15
	Kostas TRIGONIS
7	Gildas PHILIPPE	FRA	14	2	16
	Nicolas LE BERRE
8	Sven COSTER	NED	4	21	25
	Kalle COSTER
9	Daeyoung KIM	KOR	6	19	25
	Sung Ahn JUNG
10	Dmitry BEREZKIN	RUS	8	17	25
	Mikhail KRUTIKOV
11	Gerald OWENS	IRL	11	14	25
	Ross KILLIAN
12	Tomislav BASIC	CRO	16	10	26
	Petar CUPAC
13	Tomaz COPI	SLO	13	13	26
	Davor GLAVINA
14	Alvaro MARINHO	POR	22	5	27
	Miguel NUNES
15	Gustavo MARTINEZ	ESP	7	22	29
	Dimas WOOD
16	Gideon KLIGER	ISR	19	12	31
	Udi GAL
17	Kristian Skjoedt KJAERGAARD	DEN	23	9	32
	Mads Moller HANSEN
18	Johan MOLUND	SWE	18	15	33
	Martin ANDERSSON
19	Lukcas ZELLMER	GER	17	16	33
	Felix KRABBE
20	Tomasz STANCZYK	POL	24	11	35
	Tomasz JAKUBIAK
21	Nathan WILMOT	AUS	12	28	40
	Malcolm PAGE			DSQ
22	Peter CZEGAI	HUN	15	26	41
	Csaba CSEREP
23	Selim KAKIS	TUR	25	18	43
	Kaan OZGONENC
24	Gabrio ZANDONA	ITA	21	23	44
	Andrea TRANI
25	Lukas ERNI	SUI	20	25	45
	Simon BRUEGGER
26	Javier CONTE	ARG	26	20	46
	Juan DE LA FUENTE
27	Andrew BROWN	NZL	27	24	51
	Jamie HUNT

	470 WOMEN		R1	R2	Tot
1	Sofia BEKATOROU	GRE	1	2	3
	Emilia TSOULFA
2	Natalia VIA-DUFRESNE	ESP	2	4	6
	Sandra AZON
3	Vesna DEKLEVA	SLO	3	5	8
	Klara MAUCEC
4	Ingrid PETITJEAN	FRA	8	3	11
	Nadege DOUROUX
5	Susanne WARD	DEN	11	1	12
	Michaela WARD
6	Vlada ILIENKO	RUS	7	6	13
	Natalia GAPONOVICH
7	Shelley HESSON	NZL	6	8	14
	Linda DICKSON
8	Jennifer PROVAN	CAN	4	13	17
	Nikola GIRKE
9	Christina BASSADONE	GBR	5	14	19
	Katherine HOPSON
10	Therese TORGERSSON	SWE	9	10	19
	Vendela ZACHRISSON
11	Maria FERNANDA SESTO	ARG	15	7	22
	Paula REINOSO
12	Jenny ARMSTRONG	AUS	14	12	26
	Belinda STOWELL
13	Katie McDOWELL	USA	12	16	28
	Isabelle KINSOLVING
14	Stefanie ROTHWEILER	GER	13	15	28
	Monika LEU
15	Marta WEORES	HUN	21	9	30
	Anna PAYR		OCS
16	Lisa WESTERHOF	NED	10	21	31
	Margriet MATTHIJSSE			DSQ
17	Nike KORNECKI	ISR	21	11	32
	Vered BUSKILA		OCS
18	Elisabetta SACCHEGGIANI	ITA	16	19	35
	Myriam CUTOLO
19	Yuka YOSHISAKO	JPN	21	17	38
	Mitsuko SATAKE		DSQ
20	Fernanda OLIVEIRA	BRA	21	18	39
	Adriana KOSTIW		OCS
	YNGLING
1	Anne LE HELLEY	FRA	3	2	5
	Marion DEPLANQUE
	Elodie LESAFFRE
2	Annelies THIES	NED	8	1	9
	Annemieke BES
	Petronella DE JONG
3	Shirley ROBERTSON	GBR	5	4	9
	Sarah WEBB
	Sarah AYTON
4	Diana KRUTSKIKH	RUS	6	5	11
	Vladislava UKRAINTSERVA
5	Carol CRONIN	USA	2	10	12
	Liz FILTER
	Nancy HABERLAND
6	Ruslana TARAN	UKR	10	3	13
	Svitlana MATEVUSHEVA
	Ganna KALININA
7	Monica AZON	ESP	7	7	14
	Graciela PISONERO
	Marina SANCHEZ
8	Dorte JENSEN	DEN	1	14	15
	Christina BORREGAARD-OTZEN
	Helle JESPERSEN
9	Kristin WAGNER	GER	9	8	17
	Anna HOELL
	Veronika LOCHBRUNNER
10	Katerina GIAKOUMIDOU	GRE	12	6	18
	Eftichia MANTZARAKI
	Elena DIMITRAKOPOULOU
11	Paula LEWIN	BER	4	15	19
	Peta LEWIN
	Christine PATTON
12	Lisa ROSS	CAN	13	9	22
	Deirdre CRAMPTON
	Chantal LEGER
13	Nicky BETHWAITE	AUS	11	11	22
	Karyn GOJNICH
	Kristen KOSMALA
14	Karianne EIKELAND	NOR	14	13	27
	Beate KRISTIANSEN
	Lise Birgitte FREDRIKSEN
15	Giulia CONTI	ITA	16	12	28
	Alessandra MARENZI
	Angela BARONI
16	Sharon FERRIS	NZL	15	16	31
	Joanna WHITE
	Kylie JAMESON