Tuesday, September 26, 2000
News Online

On course for medal bonanza

The Sydney Olympics has seen one of the best performances by a British team in years, with the gold-medal tally already better than at any Games since Melbourne in 1956. With six golds already safely in British hands, just one more would make it the best performance by a British team since the Games of 1924.

With track and field, rowing, shooting and cycling having already delivered in golden style, the onus now falls on Britain’s sailing Olympians to keep the medals coming and to cap a fine all-round team effort in Sydney. The good news is that Britain’s sailors are not likely to disappoint.

Going into the final stages of the Olympic regatta which has been fought out on Sydney Harbour and the Tasman Sea - probably the most stunning Olympic sailing venue in the Games’s history - Britain already have one silver medal and are on course for at least three more medals this week. Two of them may well be gold.

With Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks already silver medal-winners in the 49er class, the main hopes now lie with Ben Ainslie in Lasers who can win gold, Iain Percy in Finns who is also on course for gold, and Shirley Robertson in Europes who will have to work hard not to leave Sydney with a medal after a great start to her Olympic regatta.

Robertson may well take home the silver or gold; Ian Walker and Mark Covell in the Star class are another possibility and could reach bronze or silver; and tomorrow Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield will make their last-ditch bid to snatch bronze in the final race of the men’s 470 fleet.

As with other Olympic disciplines that have produced medals for Britain in Sydney, sailing has benefited enormously over the past four years from National Lottery and Sports Council funding. The Royal Yachting Association (RYA), which trains and selects the British sailing team, has been among the first governing bodies to secure money from these sources.

In the run-up to the Atlanta Olympics, Britain’s sailors were spending as much time trying to raise funds to pay for their campaigns as they were out on the water practising. This time they have arrived in Sydney among the best-prepared nations in world sailing and with as much recent experience racing on Sydney Harbour as any other team bar the home nation. The results speak for themselves with Britain now on course to finish as the most successful sailing nation at these Games.

Ainslie is again leading the charge in the Laser, probably the most competitive of the Games fleets. In Atlanta four years ago he lost out on the gold on the very last day when his long-time rival Robert Scheidt, of Brazil, shut him out and into silver. Scheidt, 27, from São Paulo, is already a legend in world sailing after winning not only Olympic gold but, earlier this year, adding an unprecedented fourth world title in the class to his impressive sailing CV.

There was something of a question mark over Ainslie’s own form coming into the Games but the triple European champion and world champion in 1999, is back to his best, racing with the extraordinary focus on winning which has always set him apart. Ainslie is probably as much the product of his father’s passion for the sport - Roddy Ainslie skippered a boat in the first Whitbread round-the-world race in 1973 - as he is an RYA success story. But what is clear is that this shy 23-year-old from Lymington is the most gifted yacht racer of his generation, and a gold here is well within his compass.

Just over halfway through the regatta, he has won two of the seven races, finished third in another and fourth in two more, and is leading the 43-strong fleet by 14 points from Scheidt, who is struggling to keep pace. Already the gap in the points between Ainslie and Scheidt and the third-placed sailor, Gustavo Lima, of Portugal, makes it highly unlikely that anybody other the two leaders will take silver or gold.

In the Finn class, one of Ainslie’s best friends, Iain Percy, has started his first Olympic regatta as expected - by blazing a trail to the top of the fleet and racing the physically demanding single-hander with a deadly combination of aggression and pin-point accuracy.

Percy, 24, from Winchester, is new to Finn racing. But the former world-ranked No 5 in Lasers with a degree in economics from Bristol is made for the chunky little boat and has looked Britain’s first medal-winner in that class since Charles Currey in Helsinki in 1952.

Standing in his way are some exceptional sailors, including the defending Olympic champion, Mateusz Kusnierewicz, who became a national hero in his native Poland when he won at Atlanta. But with six of the 11 races gone, Percy has the initiative. He has won one race, finished second in two more and is leading the fleet by five points from Sweden's Fredie Loof. Like Scheidt in Lasers, Kusnierewicz is struggling to keep pace and is a further four points adrift in third place.

Shirley Robertson has been the “nearly-girl” of British sailing for far too long, often missing out on the leading championships through a tendency to panic under pressure in the final stages. But in Sydney she has started like never before and, with just three races left, is one point off the lead held by Argentina's Serena Amato and 13 points ahead of the third-placed Neus Garriga, of Spain.

As long the Scot keeps her head - and the indications are that she will - she will pick up a medal this week. It will be a just reward for 11 long years campaigning a Europe. Few in British sport have worked harder than Robertson or more deserve Olympic glory.

Like athletes in other disciplines across the British Olympic team, the sailors are focused purely on their own campaigns, “taking each race as it comes”. But they are also on the verge of adding the icing to a memorable British team performance at these Games.

EDWARD GORMAN
Sailing Correspondent
The Times