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Foerster and Burnham Win 470 Gold
Star and Tornados Start Strong
ATHENS,
GREECE (August 21, 2004) -- The 470 men’s team of Paul Foerster
(Rockwall, Texas) and Kevin Burnham (Miami, Fla.) won a gold
medal today for the USA at the 2004 Olympic Regatta, adding
to their country’s current harvest of medals at the Games
of the XXVIII Olympiad. It came down to one race, one chance
for Foerster and Burnham to secure their fleet lead from yesterday,
and only one other country--Great Britain--that could mathematically
push them back to a silver-medal position. That last fact
became fiction, however, more than two minutes before the
start, when the British team’s positioning went horribly wrong
and the Americans trapped them.
"They were set up in a good spot," said Foerster,
a two-time Olympic silver medalist (470 Men in 2000, Flying
Dutchman in 1992), "but we were lucky enough to recognize
that the breeze had dropped down to 5 or 6 knots. We knew
if we took their air they couldn’t get to the starting line
on time. Then it was a case of not letting up or letting them
get past us." USA and Great Britain trailed the fleet
around the course, but always with USA leading. Their final
finish positions were 22nd and 23rd, which both teams counted
as a worst-race throwout.
"Whenever we were in trouble we concentrated on boat
speed and pulled out ahead," said Burnham about the match-racing
moves he and Foerster employed, tacking eight times before
the start and 20 or more times up the first leg of the course
to cover the British whenever they tacked to escape. Mark
roundings between the two teams were eight seconds apart at
the first mark, and the team managed to extend the margin
to 27 seconds by the finish.
When the finish horn blasted for the duo, Burnham, also a
silver medalist (470 Men in 1992), performed a back flip off
his boat, leaving skipper Foerster alone to douse the spinnaker
and round up to retrieve him.
"It’s a real honor to win a gold medal," said Burnham.
"It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I first started
sailing. And it’s just such a privilege to sail with Paul."
"For me, the journey has been 25 years or so," said
Foerster. "I didn’t realize how much I wanted it until
a few days ago when I knew we had a shot at it. I had to let
it go, though. The tension would come and go, and I just said
“you have to believe in yourself and your teammate."
Behind Great Britain, which settled for the silver medal after
the 11-race series, was Japan taking the bronze.
While today’s shootout on the 470 course garnered massive
attention from spectators and press, the Star and Tornados
did not go unnoticed as they began their series for the Olympic
Regatta. Both are high profile classes, the Stars boasting
some of the best-known sailors in the world and the Tornados
having gone from simply fast at the last Olympics to ridiculously
fast this time due to a massive amount of added sail area.
In the Star class, the USA’s Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.)
and Phil Trinter (Lorain, Ohio/Port Washington, N.Y.) took
the day with 1-6 finish positions. In the first race, the
team led at all marks of the course, while in the second,
it had to make a comeback. "We had a bad start,"
said Cayard. "At the top mark, we were in about fifth
but had to almost go downwind to avoid a wall of guys on starboard.
We rounded pretty deep, probably around 12th. Overall, we
sailed well, we’re going fast. It was just a good first day."
Tornado sailors John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie
Ogletree (Houston, Texas/Columbia, N.C.) also had a splendid
first day, taking seconds in both races to tie on points with
Austria and land in second overall behind them due to tie-breaker
rules. "We sailed fairly conservatively," said Lovell,
"and tried not to make big mistakes and avoided tight
situations. A couple of times we could have gone for first,
but it was too risky. We’e happy with the second-place finishes."
Sailing their final medal races today along with the 470 Men’s
class were athletes in the Yngling, 470 Women and
Finn classes. The gold medals in Yngling and 470
Women were secured yesterday by the British and the Greek
teams, respectively, so the battles in both classes for silver
and bronze ensued today, but without the USA in contention.
Yngling sailors Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Liz Filter
(Stevensville, Md.) and Nancy Haberland (Annapolis, Md.) finished
their Olympic Regatta in tenth overall after starting prematurely
in today’s single race and failing to restart. The 17th they
suffered from it was counted as their worse score and throwout.
It dropped them two positions from yesterday. "I’m disappointed,"
said Cronin about her series, which had some brilliant moments
including two victories in an 11-race lineup. "But would
I have stayed away if I knew I wouldn’t win a medal? No way."
Taking the silver and bronze medals were the Ukraine and Denmark.
In the 470 Women’s division, Katie McDowell (Barrington, R.I.)
and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.) turned in an excellent
last-race performance of fourth to move them up a notch from
yesterday to fifth overall. "There is a disappointment
about missing a medal," said McDowell, "but we were
15th after the first day, so fifth is a whole lot better.
I’m pleased we ended strong. We had a couple of days that
were great and two days where we had some tough luck, but
generally we sailed pretty well. I am proud of how we did.
I am proud of us." Winning the silver medal in
this class was Spain, while Sweden took the bronze.
Finn sailor Kevin Hall (Bowie, Md./Ventura, Calif.) finished
seventh today after leading at several marks and rose from
14th on the scoreboard yesterday to tenth today. Great Britain
won the gold, while Spain and Poland took the silver and bronze
medals. "My goal is always to sail well," said Hall.
"I was happy with all my preparation and training, and
I went into this feeling good, but somehow after it started
it was like I got up on the wrong side of the bed, and I didn’t
sort it out until today. It has been my childhood dream since
I was five to go to the Olympics. If there is one thing I
would take away from this as a lesson it would be that it’s
harder than it looks. You can say it’s about participation,
but for those who can really put it together, my hat’s off."
The Mistral fleets (men and women) continued racing
today, with the USA’s Lanee Butler Beashel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.)
adding a 6-14 to her scores to move up a spot to 16th overall.
Peter Wells (La Canada/Newport Beach, Calif.) remains in 25th
overall with finish positions of 28-24. Each class has three
races to go.
What’s Next – Tomorrow, Sunday, August 22, Europe and Lasers
will sail their medal rounds, while 49ers resume racing, Star
and Tornados continue, and Mistrals observe a reserve day.
On Monday, August. 23, the Mistral class resumes racing while
Tornado and Star classes continue their series and 49ers take
a reserve day.
Additional background information on the events, and the U.S.
athletes, is available online at
www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicGames/2004/
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