Olympic Sailing Medals - 49ers Can't Find Gold

First of all then in this particular class then all boats are the exact same! The only difference is the paint on the sails. Everything is made by the same manufacturer.

Secondly the Danes did not pay to borrow the Croatian boat.

Thirdly the Croatian boat had been approved for the race, but the Croates just didn't make the final.

This is a horrible case of a big nation (Spain) not being large enough to face that they didn't sail the best. The Danes were already the presumed winner - only bad luck would take the Gold medal away from them. They would have to come in worse as #8 out of 10 not to win the Gold! They came in as # 7 even though they ended up starting later, lost time and had mentals up and down with loosing their boat, using all their energy getting the Croatian boat rigged and out in less than 7 minutes. The Danes beat history and all odds and they won fair and square.

Spain is now trying to use their superior power (politically) to get the Gold, although their own sailors admitted the Danes sailed better and deserved the Gold. They have convinced Italy to go along with them, because Italy stand to win Bronze, if Denmark is disqualified. So Italy also stand to gain a lot. Italy would never had won any medals without some other nations bad luck and if they can't get Denmark disqulaified. This is just disgusting sportsmanship that should not be allowed and should be punished with quaranteene.

Nothing in the rules state that you cannot use another boat, that has been approved for the race! Denmark did not break any written rules, and they did not get any advantage out of switching boat - quite the contrary.

Spain should be ashamed of themselves and I wish the Spanish sailors had more moral backbone to not protest but to stand up for their own beliefs, that the Danes were the deserved Gold Medalists and the better sailors!

I am ashamed to be Spanish!

I think you need to read the rules for sailing. If parts of your equipment break you are aloud to change it. In this case, they needed a new boat to be able to start in time. It does not say anywhere in the rules that you cannot chance the boat, as you say.
The Danish team led by 11 points (!) before the medal race, showing that they were by far the best in the competition up to this point.
Great sportsmanship is fighting for your 1st place. Going out in boat you don’t know and did set up, and not starting 3min 56sec after the others is not an advantage. But fighting your way up to a seventh place and defending the 1st place shows how great these two Danish sailors really are.
Great sportsmanship is doing whatever you can to complete the race. If they came in tenth and last, which they probably would have under “normal” weather condition, the Spaniards could say we won this gold medal fair and square on the water and not in the courtroom. By completing the race nobody can come afterwards and say “would Spain have won if the Danish were in the race from the start?” Doing everything you can to complete the race, even in an alien boat and nearly 4 minutes after the rest, is great sportsmanship.
I honestly don’t think the two great Spanish sailors would like to win a gold medal like this, when they know they were not the best. I might be wrong, but then we can’t talk about sportsmanship or Olympic spirit anymore. Then we talk about greed. You can also ask yourself the question; why didn’t Australia and Germany appeal this? My answers would be; because they are great sportsmen and knew who were the best on the water overall.

Big congratulations to the Danish team! You really deserve it.

The Danes did not break any written rules. There is no rule stating you cannot change boat. The boats are all the same. The rules state you can change equipment as long as the equipment is approved for the race. The boats the Danes changed into was approved.

The bad sportsmanship lies with Spain. The Spanish sailors even stated that the Danes were the best and deserved to win, but they will off course try and get the Gold if they have any change. What kind of Olympic Spirit is that?

Get your facts right before you judge!

They haven't changed the rules. It's fully legal to borrow a boat!!!

Hi,

First of all, I admire how the danes managed all the situation to finally get the gold. It's amazing how they did everything to get to the course and get the points they need.

However the reglamentation says that you can change any part of your boat, not the boat itself (the olympic yachting reglamentation, points 21.2 and 21.3). Even though, let's admit you can change the boat because it doesn't say explicity this or it's not clear.

More: the rules of 49r class. It's written (C1 I think) that you must show national symbols for easy identification during the race. And this is my point. Nobody in the race, I mean the sailors of the other countries, knew the croatian boat were the danes. Many sailors thought the croatians were training. The spaniards did they race and won. OK. The others did it too. Ok.

Problem 1: the italians needed just 5th position to get the bronze with the danes out of the race and they finish 5th. Curious? I don't think so. They didn't risk more because they were getting the medal and if you watch the race they celebrate after finishing because they thought they had won a bronze.

Is it fair this? Is it sportmanship to compete against others they don't know 'who' you are or don't know you are competing against them?

Problem 2: Any boat has to be inspected and spend some time in 'quaranteine' before each race, I mean each race. The croatian boat did not spend it because it wasn't going to compete. (another rule broken). Besides, rule number 3 of the reglamentation says that all boats have to have a camera (3 kilos weight). The croatian boat did not have the camera. (another rule broken).

More: The danes were lucky enough that some boats (I think two) didn't finish the race in protest to have to compete in bad climatological conditions. This retirements made them finish in 7th position, the position they need. Do you think the retired teams would have done this if they knew they were deciding 'medals' for one or another country? Maybe yes or not but...

For me the problem is not the danes. They did what they need to try to be in the race and were lucky to 'keep' the gold medal and just for that they would deserve the gold. The problem is 'the judges'. In my opinion it is clear that the danes broke some rules so I cannot understand the veredict that 'the danes didn't get any advantatge getting the croatian boat', so not disqualificating the danes. Ok, let's admit that the danes didn't get any advantatge (they needed 'more' advantage than be allowed to be racing against the reglamentation?) but they broke rules: YES!, so: out!

Not even thinking in the italians and the confusion of not knowing that the croatians were the danes (even if it wasn't decisive for medals or postions). For God sake, you can't be in a competition not knowing who you are competing against!!! This is the ABC of any sport or game.

(It's like if Raikonen (F1) crash the ferrarri and takes a, I don't know, a toro rosso and gets some points for him (not for toro rosso) and ferrari to win the championship). This would be 'amazing' because of the difficult and admirably but let me doubt about it ethically. Maybe the comparation it's silly but I think it's exactly like this.

What it makes me laugh a lot is Jesper Larsen, the chief of the dane delegation, saying that recurring to the TAS it's against 'olympic spirit' and besides the medals are already awarded.

The same 'olympic spirit' that makes you compete againsts other that don't know you are there and broke rules in your way, stealing some medals or the color of them to other fellow athletes.

I don't care about Spain is gold or silver, or the germans silver or bronze. But what about the italians (I'm not italian btw)? They did what they need for the bronze, not more.

Not thinking about the retired teams in protest and the rules broken.

The only problem for me is, apart they broke rules (stupid rules btw but rules at the end), is the others not knowing the 'real state' of the race.

For me it wouldn't be a problem to change boat and everything but is like having a joker others didn't had (that they didn't need to use it but they didnt' know they had it either).

Sorry for that long,
Adrian

Well, the best team won the football match (Spain ).

49 race-the Spanish are cowards who want to win at the desk and not on the sea!
Let them have the gold medals; the Danes were the best.
Only thing, I fell sorry for the 2 Danish sailors if it happens.
The Dane

Do you remember Ben Johnson? He also won a gold medal in the Olympic Games of Seul 1988, and he lost it, at you say, "at the desk". Some tricky people are caught "at the desk".