 Tunnicliffe victory confirms leading status
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-20 08:34 American Anna Tunnicliffe won Olympic gold in the laser radial sailing yesterday to confirm her status as world No 1. Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania secured silver and China's Xu Lijia grabbed bronze, the host nation's first medal of the regatta. The British-born Tunnicliffe, 25, was struggling in the medal race, sitting in ninth spot among the 10 racers that qualified for yesterday's final in Qingdao. But in light and shifty winds she made a dramatic comeback to secure her gold medal. The 25-year-old said she spotted a wind shift on the third leg, fought her way up to third by the third mark of the regatta, and finished 11 seconds behind Volungeviciute to take the gold on total points after 10 races. Sailing events are decided on cumulative scores. Top seeded racers generally don't need to finish up front on the final race to secure the gold. With Volungeviciute back in sight, Tunnicliffe could relax and follow the race-winning Lithuanian over the line in second to win gold by five points. Tunnicliffe was in the lead heading into today's race in her Laser Radial, a one-person dinghy. She made a dive for the windward end of the crowded start line and, in doing so, crossed early and had to return and restart. That created an opening for Volungeviciute and for China's Xu, who took an early but short-lived lead. As the leaders reached the last mark of the course, Sarah Blanck of Australia, also in medal contention, caught a shift and made her way to third place, but she needed to pass Xu to win bronze. Then, out of ninth place appeared Tunnicliffe, who had gone to the left side of the course. She came through to finish the race in second place. "I had a really bad start. It was very hard to focus when my competitors were gaining points on me," said Tunnicliffe after her victory. Xu, who along with windsurfer Yin Jian was one of two strong Chinese sailing medal hopes going into the Games, was cheered on loudly by home fans at the Olympic Sailing Centre. Agencies (China Daily 08/20/2008 page12) |
