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Olympic Medals 470 - Aussie, Aussie!

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Boating and Sailing News 18 Aug

Qingdao, China - The Australian teams absolutely dominated both the Men's and Women's 470 Class racing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Australian Head Coach Victor Kovalenko has now coached teams to medals in both 470 events at the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games, and further cemented his title as the ‘Medal Maker’. With a 31 point lead in the Men's 470 Class, and a 10 point lead in the Women's 470, the Aussies took the gold in both classes triumphantly.

Olympic sailing 470 class men's

In the Men's boat, Nathan Wilmot, Malcolm Page had a steady and conservative approach leading into the final competition, at which point the consistency aspect of their strategy went out the door. Today, at the medal race, they took first (their only first). Said Wilmot of today's racing: "Today we were pretty relaxed and we were joking around. We saw all the boats behind us at one point and we thought to ourselves: 'We might as well win our only Olympic Medal Race!'" Commenting on the Gold, teammate Page said: "We waited a long time for this medal. All the efforts that we put in finally paid off and we got what we waited for."

For the Women's event, things were a bit tighter, with the Netherlands team keeping the pressure on the Aussies all the way. At 21 and 22 years old respectively, Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson battled mightily for the gold. In the medal race, team Aussie sailed an effective match race against the Netherlands, trying to keep them from a win that would threaten the Aussie's gold. The tactic almost worked too well, and at the point where Aussie Gold was assured but Dutch Silver was threatened, the ladies from down under backed off just enough. On winning the gold, Elise Rechichi said: "The feeling hasn't sunk in yet. We're still so stunned and we cannot stop laughing."

Great Britain and France filled out the podium for the Men's 470, with only a three point spread between Silver and Bronze, but it was Brazil in the Women's class that was a surprise. Underdogs Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan sailed the races of their lives, and earned their place on the podium with a tremendous finish in the Medal Race, their first and most important win of the 470 series.

Thus, at the conclusion of the 2008 Olympics in the 470 Classes, half of the medals belong to the Northern Hemisphere, and half to the Southern. Our congratulations to all of the competitors and coaches, Olympians through and through.

470 Class Men's - Olympic Sailing Medal Winners at the 2008 Olympics

1 AUSTRALIA Nathan Wilmot, Malcolm Page 60 44

2 GREAT BRITAIN Nick Rogers, Joe Glanfield 105 75

3 FRANCE Nicolas Charbonnier, Olivier Bausset 98 78

Olympic Sailing 470 men's class

470 Class Women's - Olympic Sailing Medal Winners at the 2008 Olympics

1 AUSTRALIA Elise Rechichi, Tessa Parkinson 52 43

2 NETHERLANDS Marcelien De Koning, Lobke Berkhout 69 53

3 BRAZIL Fernanda Oliveira, Isabel Swan 76 60

Olympic sailing 470 class women's

- Olympic Medals 470 - Aussie, Aussie by B. Hampton for YachtPals.com

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Submitted By YachtPals on 18 Aug

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