Going into the final race over the weekend, veterans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham of the USA—who have been sailing a 470 for as long as anybody can remember—held a slim 2 point margin over Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield of the UK in the race for Olympic Gold. The scene was set for a final race showdown.

 

In order to take the Gold medal, Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham of the USA simply had to finish within two places of Rogers and Glanfield of Great Britain. Sounds simple, but in the shifty, fluky conditions, and with the tight nature of the 470 fleet, two places is not much. Team USA would have their work cut out staying ahead of a British team on the bounce back after their disappointment in Sydney 2000, when they lost the bronze medal on the final leg of the final race.

Swedish sailors Johan Molund and Martin Andersen held third place going into the final race, but they could still lose it to the Japanese pair, Kazuto Seki and Kenjiro Todoroki.

There was eight knots just prior to the starting sequence and the Americans immediately went on an offensive against the British, determined to keep the pair low enough to ensure that the rest of the fleet could not affect the Gold medal result.

Lining themselves up for the start, Rogers and Glanfield, who'd had a full day to discuss their starting strategy with coaches and the other members of the British team, intended to complete a time on distance start at the starboard end. This strategy is the safest method and would limit the damage that Foerster and Burnham could do pre-start. "It's a strategy that really works when there is a bit of breeze. The 470 is a difficult boat to stop, we felt it was are best option," Rogers commented after racing.

Unfortunately for the British team the Saronic Gulf threw up it's usual curveball, and the breeze dropped to four knots and shifted left. Here Kevin Burnham takes up the story: "Luckily for us we noticed it (the change) before they did and we realized that in the lighter breeze, if we sat on their air, it'd be the only chance to stop them crossing the startline."

The tactic worked, and as the fleet set off up the first beat in order to decide the Bronze medal, USA and GBR were left firmly rooted to the bottom of the rankings, only spared absolute last by the OCS score of Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) along with Spain and Greece.

"We felt pretty stupid letting ourselves get into that position", Rogers commented, and Glanfield added, "The strategy was fine for eight knots of wind' it just didn’t work in four knots."

Many thought the race for Gold was over at that point but Paul Foerster, who had been in a similar situation in Barcelona in 1992, knew that if they let the British team through, anything could happen. "It was pretty tense all the way around," he said. "I just knew I couldn't let Nick past, so we just covered him all that way 'round."

Meanwhile, the race for the Bronze was heating to an inferno temperatures. Molund and Andersen looked to have lost it early on in the race as they went round the first mark in 17th place with the Japanese in second. Blistering work on the first downwind leg from the Swedes pulled them into sixth place by the bottom mark. With the Japanese in fifth; the momentum shifted back to Scandinavia.

They stayed there for most of the rest of the race, Molund and Andersen, trying to sail the Japanese down the fleet. Echoes of Rogers and Glanfield in Sydney came flooding to the Swedish as it all went wrong for them on the final lap. They eventually finished sixteenth but with the Japanese in 11 place, the medal went to the Land of the Rising Sun.

The Bronze medal won here is Japan's second in Olympic Sailing Competitions over the years and after racing, Kazuto Seki said what it meant to them: "We are honored and happy to be here in Athens in the birthplace of the Olympic Games. To realize the dream of a medal amongst such great athletes has made us very happy."

So with the Gold medal decided in favour of Foerster and Burnham, and the Silver medal going to Rogers and Glanfield, the 470 men’s fleet now have their medal ceremony, alongside the ladies fleet, and the Yngling and Star, in the Agios Kosmas Sailing Centre.

For Foerster and Burnham, the medal ceremony is another to add to the two they have attended between them. This time around, shared the top step of the podium. "It’s been great to be here in Athens, and to come away with Gold is even better." Foerster summed-up.

For Rogers and Glanfield, the Silver medal put rest to the Ghosts from Athens, and despite holding first place for much of the regatta, the team were ecstatic with second. "It’s been a seven year campaign. "After the disappointment of Sydney, to come here and be assured of a medal is awesome. There are an amazing amount of fantastic athletes and literally anyone could have won medals."

ISAF, 21 August 2004

Editor's note: Having ourselves filed reports from the field while the news was still "incoming", we've gently edited this dispatch, and we appreciate the contributions of the ISAF reporter.

 

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