Britain majestic in Olympic regatta
QINGDAO: British sailors gave Qingdao locals several renditions of God Save the Queen at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing Sinopec International Regatta yesterday.
The entire British team, from sailors to coaches and media, gathered to help its gold medal winners belt out the country's rousing national anthem.
The British won three golds and a silver from a total of eight events in yesterday's medal rounds in which only the top ten competitors from preliminary rounds hoist their sails.
Australia bagged two gold medals and two silvers.
The kiwis were quite prominent on the winners' dais as well, finishing with a gold and a silver, while the French also saw their national flag raised four times - though only for bronze medals.
Yesterday's wind was the best of the regatta, but unfortunately the "best wind" brought Chinese sailors no luck.
Windsurfer Zhou Yuanguo, China's brightest hope, failed to sound the Chinese national anthem for his home fans after turning in his worst performance of the regatta in the final race.
Although he won silver, Zhou finished a disappointing ninth in the medal race in which he was severely fined to add another 18 points to his previous single-digit scoreboard.
Under new rules for the Qingdao regatta and next year's Olympics, first, second and third place are awarded two, four and six point respectively, and so on until the final sailor crosses the line.
Sailors are allowed to discard their worst performance in the preliminary series, but not the medal race, and the competitor with the fewest combined points wins gold.
"Today's strong wind was a bit of a surprise for me and I did not do well with it," Zhou said.
"But I don't blame the wind - I know I still have to improve my sailing skills in stronger wind conditions."
RS:X Men's winner Tom Ashley, from New Zealand, said the "beautiful wind" made his day and that Zhou would be his toughest opponent at next year's Games.
Zhou's teammate and fellow RS:X windsurfer Yin Jian also paid a heavy price for a poor medal race.
Yin, who had a firm hold on third position after the preliminaries, fell to fifth in the final standings following her eighth place in the final.
Briton Bryony Shaw won the RS:X Women after finishing consistently in the top three throughout the whole event. But her victory also owed to France's Olympic champion Faustine Merret's last place in the medal race.
Briton Ben Ainslie in the Finn class and Austrians Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher in Tornado upheld their reputations as Olympic gold medalists.
British 49ers Stevie Morrison and Ben Thodes had their work cut out to win gold in Qingdao's light winds.
They sailed poorly in the preliminary races to pip the silver medalists, Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez from Spain, by just one point in the end.
Aussies pocketed both gold medals in the 470 class, Elsie Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson in the women's team and Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page in the men's.
Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada from Brazil topped the Star class yesterday to leave more fancied opponents disappointed.
Yngling, Laser and Laser Radial had their last one or two rounds in the preliminary races yesterday, producing new names on the leaders board.
The US team's Yngling and Laser Radial girls beat their strong rivals from Britain and New Zealand, while Maciej Grabowski took the lead of the Laser team two points clear of long-time leader Paul Goodison from Britain.
(China Daily 08/23/2007 page24)
