Job done

Ainslie secures Gold while Rogers/Glanfield are beaten down to silver by US veterans reports Andrew Preece

It was sailing’s equivalent of the penalty shoot out. The Americans and the British were both assured of better than Bronze in the Men’s 470 fleet. The last race would decide who went home on top.

All week Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield have led the 470 class but all week the Americans have been chasing. Whenever Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham made a bad start they would weave a way through. They finally stole the lead - and the psychological advantage - on Thursday.

Going into today’s race the Americans led by a point: Great Britain needed two boats between them and the Americans to reclaim the gold position as the music stopped. But the story on the street was that the Americans would come looking for them and match race them off the course.

"We had a day off yesterday to think about it," said Joe Glanfield afterwards. "We spoke to other members of the British team [including Ben Ainlsie who hunted Robert Scheidt off the Laser course in the final Laser race in Sydney to claim Gold] and decided to try and set ourselves up on the starboard layline for the committee boat. We spent the time before the start of the race doing timed runs."

Unfortunately for the British pair they stood out like sore thumbs way off to the right hand side of the track as the clocked ticked inside the final minute. By that time the Americans had come to find them. Foerster had managed to position himself between the British and the start line and the wind died from eight knots to four. A flurry of tacks at 30 seconds to go and it was effectively over. The fleet pulled away and the duelling pair was 50 metres back and locked in combat. Before they even crossed the starting line it was Silver for Britain.

"We felt pretty stupid," said Nick Rogers afterwards. "But what he did wasn’t easy. These boats are not America’s Cup boats and to stick in front of someone and hold them back for an entire race takes a lot of skill."

Rogers and Glanfield pulled 30 or so tacks up the first beat and around 20 up the second in an effort to break free. But Foerster was too good. "We were hoping they would make some small mistake and we could slip past," said Glanfield. "We thought we were tacking well, after every tack we thought 'that was a good one' but they matched us each time."

So an hour later the American team were confirmed as Gold medallists. The team with three silvers between them (Burnham still uses the trapeze harness he used back in 1992) and a combined age of 87, got the better of the nippers. "I won’t believe it until it’s hanging around my neck," said Burnham from the wire on the sail back in.

"I wouldn’t want to be starting the week again," said Glanfield from the water just seconds after he jumped ship as they crossed the finish line. "With this fleet and these conditions I’ll bank the Silver." The Japanese team howled with delight as they sailed to their coach boat for a Bronze medal celebration.

On the Finn course Ben Ainslie’s day was much more straightforward. All he needed to do to secure his second Gold medal was to finish within 14 places of the Spaniard Rafa Trujillo. Trujillo went around the first mark sixth, Ainslie was around five places behind. They finished 13th and 14th.

For Ainslie it has been a torrid week. After a first day disqualification over a port and starboard incident, things were looking difficult to impossible. But what Ainslie saw as a wrong-doing seemed to spur him on. "It was a mixture of frustration and anger after what happened on the first day," said Ainslie afterwards. "It was a case of either feeling hard done by or turning it round and getting back on with it. Two firsts the next day proved to me that I could get back into the medals and I guess it was the spark that made me sail better."

When asked if he would parade his gold medal in front of the French sailor that he felt had wrongly accused him Ainslie replied dismissively "I won’t be doing that. I still don’t have much time for what he did but I’m not really bothered about him. He doesn’t concern me."

There is no doubt in any of his rivals’ minds that Ainslie has something special. "Fighting with Ben is the most important event in my sporting life," said Trujillo afterwards. "I am very happy for Ben and very happy that I proved myself to be one of the best," said Mateusz Kusnierewicz who finished third.

"With Beano you know that he will try harder than anyone else for all of the time," says his coach David Howlett. "I don’t need to provide anything in the way of motivation because it is already there."

"Ben is one of the most intuitive sailors in the game," says his America’s Cup skipper Dean Barker who started the regatta with promise but ended up in 13th.

But while Shirley Robertson and her crew Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton were in the hairdressers while others - including the rest of the Yngling fleet - were out racing, others were just starting their climb towards the podium.

For the British Tornado sailors their opening day will be one they will hope to put behind them: they began their regatta with an eighth and a 14th to lie 11th overnight. Things were more encouraging over on the Star course though a few hearts stopped when Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter led the first race from start to finish. Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell started with an eighth - a result that could yet provide useful in a high scoring regatta. They then elevated themselves with a third and are lying in fourth place overnight behind Cayard, Torben Grael and Flavio Marazzi of Switzerland.

Tomorrow Paul Goodison has the chance to do the business in the Laser class: he lies one point off Bronze. Gold is probably out of reach but in the Laser class - where even the god-like Robert Scheidt is counting a 12th for his discard - the six points to Silver is certainly not out of reach.



Final results:

	FINN
Pos	Name	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Tot	Net
1	Ben AINSLIE	GBR	9	26/DSQ	1	1	4	1	2	3	2	1	14	64	38
2	Rafael TRUJILLO	SPA	8	3	3	6	2	3	26/OCS	4	5	4	13	77	51
3	Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ	POL	3	1	6	4	11	26/OCS	17	1	7	2	1	79	53
4	Karlo KURET	CRO	6	2	10	8	12	18	7	5	3	3	5	79	61
5	Emilios PAPATHANASIOU	GRE	1	5	17	13	15	6	8.4	2	1	22	4	94.4	72.4
6	Anthony NOSSITER	AUS	18	8	4	7	8	13	1	8	20	6	25	118	93
7	Sebastien GODEFROID	BEL	19	12	2	5	6	5	3	11	24	18	15	120	96
8	Guillaume FLORENT	FRA	7	7	5	16	3	9	9	15	13	12	19	115	96
9	Jonas HOEGH-CHRISTENSEN	DEN	16	4	23	26/DNF	1	8	11	13	10	8	11	131	105
10	Joäo SIGNORINI	BRA	15	9	21	15	21	4	5	6	12	9	17	134	113
11	Kevin HALL	USA	11	6	13	17	16	14	13	9	9	17	7	132	115
12	David BURROWS	IRL	17	14	9	3	18	2	26/OCS	10	11	10	22	142	116
13	Dean BARKER	NZL	5	10	7	11	7	16	26/OCS	12	19	20	10	143	117
14	Daniel BIRGMARK	SWE	12	13	11	14	14	10	4	7	17	16	21	139	118
15	Michael MAIER	CZE	13	17	19	9	20	12	15	18	4	7	6	140	120
16	Ali ENVER ADAKAN	TUR	2	15	8	10	22	11	10	21	16	24	9	148	124
17	Michael FELLMAN	GER	14	11	12	2	9	17	19	19	25	21	3	152	127
18	Richard CLARKE	CAN	10	18	15	22	19	15	26/OCS	14	8	11	2	160	134
19		NED	22	19	18	12	13	7	12	16	14	13	12	158	136
20	Gasper VINCEC	SLO	4	24	14	19	26/DNF	19	8	17	18	5	23	177	151
21	Vladimir KRUTSKIKH	RUS	23	22	22	21	10	23	16	22	6	23	8	196	173
22	Alejandro COLLA	ARG	20	21	25	18	5	20	14	20	21	19	16	199	174
23	Balazs HAJDU	HUN	24	16	16	20	17	22	20	23	15	14	20	207	183
24	Michele MARCHESINI	ITA	21	20	20	24	24	24	6	25	23	15	24	226	201
25	Imre TAVETER	EST	25	23	24	23	23	21	18	24	22	25	18	246	221

	470 MEN
Pos	Helm	Crew	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Tot	Net
1	Paul FOERSTER	Kevin BURNHAM	USA	1	8	2	15	9	4	3	7	18	4	-22	93	71
2	Nick ROGERS	Joe GLANFIELD	GBR	2	3	9	4	17	5	2	3	10	19	-23	97	74
3	Kazuto SEKI	Kenjiro TODOROKI	JPN	3	7	-21	18	7	12	1	9	5	17	11	111	90
4	Johan MOLUND	Martin ANDERSSON	SWE	18	15	8	-22	1	16	12	4	2	3	15	116	94
5	Gildas PHILIPPE	Nicolas LE BERRE	FRA	14	2	13	7	2	-17	15	17	12	13	2	114	97
6	Sven COSTER	Kalle COSTER	NED	4	21	4	16	12	18	6	8	6	-22	6	123	101
7	Alvaro MARINHO	Miguel NUNES	POR	-22	5	20	21	10	8	9	1	20	1	8	125	103
8	Alexandre PARADEDA	Bernardo ARNDT	BRA	5	1	14	19	4	10	17	20	-24	9	5	128	104
9	Eugen BRASLAVETS	Igor MATVIENKO	UKR	10	4	1	28/DNF	8	7	18	12	13	24	9	134	106
10	Gabrio ZANDONA	Andrea TRANI	ITA	21	-23	7	12	11	22	13	5	7	8	3	132	109
11	Lukcas ZELLMER	Felix KRABBE	GER	17	16	10	11	5	19	10	-23	8	11	7	137	114
12	Nathan WILMOT	Malcolm PAGE	AUS	12	28/DSQ	3	3	19	3	4	18	3	26	28/OCS	147	119
13	Javier CONTE	Juan DE LA FUENTE	ARG	-26	20	5	1	21	1	11	13	9	23	17	147	121
14	Tomaz COPI	Davor GLAVINA	SLO	13	13	17	6	15	-20	8	19	15	6	14	146	126
15	Gideon KLIGER	Udi GAL	ISR	19	12	6	8	23	9	5	11	23	12	28/DSQ	156	128
16	Gerald OWENS	Ross KILLIAN	IRL	11	14	16	14	14	14	-19	16	4	16	10	148	129
17	Dmitry BEREZKIN	Mikhail KRUTIKOV	RUS	8	17	-26	17	18	21	16	6	14	14	1	158	132
18	Andreas KOSMATOPOULOS	Kostas TRIGONIS	GRE	9	6	11	9	16	2	23	15	21	20	28/OCS	160	132
19	Tomislav BASIC	Petar CUPAC	CRO	16	10	19	5	20	-26	21	25	1	7	12	162	136
20	Gustavo MARTINEZ	Dimas WOOD	ESP	7	22	12	10	3	11	26	21	16	10	28/OCS	166	138
21	Tomasz STANCZYK	7	POL	24	11	-25	2	13	25	7	14	22	18	21	182	157
22	Lukas ERNI	Simon BRUEGGER	SUI	20	25	18	20	6	24	20	-27	11	15	4	190	163
23	Daeyoung KIM	Sung Ahn JUNG	KOR	6	19	24	25	26	27	24	2	28/OCS	2	16	199	171
24	Selim KAKIS	Kaan OZGONENC	TUR	25	18	15	24	25	6	28/DSQ	24	19	5	13	202	174
25	Kristian Skjoedt KJAERGAARD	Mads Moller HANSEN	DEN	23	9	22	13	28/DSQ	15	25	22	17	27	18	219	191
26	Andrew BROWN	Jamie HUNT	NZL	-27	24	23	23	22	13	14	10	26	25	20	227	200
27	Peter CZEGAI	Csaba CSEREP	HUN	15	26	27	28/DNF	24	23	22	26	25	21	19	256	228

	470 WOMEN
Pos	Helm	Crew	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Tot	Net
1	Sofia BEKATOROU	Emilia TSOULFA	GRE	1	2	2	13	1	1	14	1	1	2	21/DNC	59	38
2	Natalia VIA-DUFRESNE	Sandra AZON	ESP	2	4	9	15	-19	5	8	3	5	6	5	81	62
3	Therese TORGERSSON	Vendela ZACHRISSON	SWE	9	10	7	2	3	-14	9	6	7	7	3	77	63
4	Vesna DEKLEVA	Klara MAUCEC	SLO	3	5	14	-18	2	15	1	2	18	3	2	83	65
5	Katie McDOWELL	Isabelle KINSOLVING	USA	12	16	3	12	9	2	-18	17	8	1	4	102	84
6	Susanne WARD	Michaela WARD	DEN	11	1	4	3	13	8	5	16	12	21/DSQ	16	110	89
7	Christina BASSADONE	Katherine HOPSON	GBR	5	14	15	4	5	6	17	21/DSQ	2	16	7	112	91
8	Vlada ILIENKO	Natalia GAPONOVICH	RUS	7	6	12	8	14	-17	13	11	11	4	8	111	94
9	Lisa WESTERHOF	Margriet MATTHIJSSE	NED	10	21/DSQ	1	15	4	10	7	7	19	12	15	121	100
10	Ingrid PETITJEAN	Nadege DOUROUX	FRA	8	3	5	7	7	-20	19	18	10	14	9	120	100
11	Yuka YOSHISAKO	Mitsuko SATAKE	JPN	21/DSQ	17	16	10	8	12	4	12	3	18	1	122	101
12	Maria FERNANDA SESTO	Paula REINOSO	ARG	15	7	11	6	15	-16	3	14	9	11	11	118	102
13	Jennifer PROVAN	Nikola GIRKE	CAN	4	13	17	11	12	7	2	-19	6	19	12	122	103
14	Jenny ARMSTRONG	Belinda STOWELL	AUS	14	12	6	14	11	11	10	8	13	9	-19	127	108
15	Stefanie ROTHWEILER	Monika LEU	GER	13	15	8	1	18	4	11	10	-20	15	14	129	109
16	Shelley HESSON	Linda DICKSON	NZL	6	8	10	5	17	-18	15	13	14	17	13	136	118
17	Fernanda OLIVEIRA	Adriana KOSTIW	BRA	21/OCS	18	19	16	16	3	6	15	15	5	6	140	119
18	Nike KORNECKI	Vered BUSKILA	ISR	21/OCS	11	21	19	6	13	12	5	4	13	18	143	122
19	Marta WEORES	Anna PAYR	HUN	21/OCS	9	13	9	20	9	16	9	16	10	17	149	128
20	Elisabetta SACCHEGGIANI	Myriam CUTOLO	ITA	16	19	18	-20	10	19	20	4	17	8	10	161	141

	YNGLING
Pos				Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Tot	Net
1	Shirley ROBERTSON	Sarah WEBB	Sarah AYTON	GBR	5	4	1	1	4	3	4	6	3	8	17/DNC	56	39
2	Ruslana TARAN	Svitlana MATEVUSHEVA	Ganna KALININA	UKR	10	3	9	3	7	2	2	8	1	-16	5	66	50
3	Dorte JENSEN	Christina BORREGAARD-OTZEN	Helle JESPERSEN	DEN	1	14	5	5	5	6	3	4	6	5	17/OCS	71	54
4	Annelies THIES	Annemieke BES	Petronella DE JONG	NED	8	1	-13	8	3	5	8	12	5	4	2	69	56
5	Anne LE HELLEY	Marion DEPLANQUE	Elodie LESAFFRE	FRA	3	2	-14	11	9	13	10	3	2	3	1	71	57
6	Kristin WAGNER	Anna HOELL	Veronika LOCHBRUNNER	GER	9	8	2	12	1	7	-15	5	11	13	8	91	76
7	Sharon FERRIS	Joanna WHITE	Kylie JAMESON	NZL	15	-16	3	2	2	9	11	7	12	7	9	93	77
8	Ekaterina SKUDINA	Diana KRUTSKIKH	Vladislava UKRAINTSERVA	RUS	6	5	11	17/DSQ	14	4	13	1	10	12	3	96	79
9	Karianne EIKELAND	Beate KRISTIANSEN	Lise Birgitte FREDRIKSEN	NOR	14	13	4	6	10	1	14	8	9	-15	6	100	85
10	Carol CRONIN	Liz FILTER	Nancy HABERLAND	USA	2	10	16	9	15	10	1	15	7	1	17/OCS	103	86
11	Katerina GIAKOUMIDOU	Eftichia MANTZARAKI	Elena DIMITRAKOPOULOU	GRE	12	6	8	4	6	8	16	9	8	9	17/OCS	103	86
12	Monica AZON	Graciela PISONERO	Marina SANCHEZ	ESP	7	7	10	-14	11	11	7	12	4	6	11	100	86
13	Nicky BETHWAITE	Karyn GOJNICH	Kristen KOSMALA	AUS	11	11	12	10	8	-16	5	2	13	10	10	108	92
14	Giulia CONTI	Alessandra MARENZI	Angela BARONI	ITA	-16	12	7	7	13	15	6	11	14	14	7	122	106
15	Paula LEWIN	Peta LEWIN	Christine PATTON	BER	4	15	6	13	-16	14	9	16	16	11	4	124	108
16	Lisa ROSS	Deirdre CRAMPTON	Chantal LEGER	CAN	13	9	-15	15	12	12	12	14	15	2	12	131	116