Olympic Sailing Medals - Gold in Star for GBR

Qingdao, China - The Olympic Gold was largely up for grabs in the medal race for the Star Class, and that fact showed through in the racing. With a decent breeze and big seas, it was time for the heavyweights to show off a bit, and show off they did. Great Britain, Brazil and Sweden all had a shot at the top of the podium, and it was through persistence and unrelenting drive that Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson took the Gold.

This is Percy's second Gold medal, having won in the Finn Class in 2000. “This win is far more sweet than the gold in the Finn,” said Percy. “Six months ago, we knew we could do it. It’s just that there was so much work involved and there are so many talents in the class. We always knew we were contenders, but only contenders. Every morning we wake up thinking about sailing and nothing else.”

Brit teammate Simpson was a little more emotional about earning his first Olympic Medal, which happened to be in his first ever Olympics:

"At first tears burst into my eyes. I was just so shocked. After so many years of hardship, to achieve this, here with your best friend is the best feeling in the world!”

Brazil and Sweden are tied in adjusted points, and it was only by the narrowest margin that Brazil took the Silver in the final race. Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada sailed their boat like it was on fire, forcing Sweden into Bronze by sheer will, and almost earning themselves the Gold, as at one point in the race it looked like the Brits and Swedes were too busy battling each other to notice what was happening with the rest of the fleet. As Percy (GBR) noted about that point in the race: “Everything was changing. Boat places were switched rapidly and we went from left to right. We just had to keep our eyes on the main guys and just fight, fight and fight,”

Star Class - Olympic Sailing Overall Results

1 GBR Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson 45

2 BRA Robert Scheidt, Bruno Prada 53

3 SWE Fredrik Loof, Anders Ekstrom 53

4 POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Dominik Zycki 59

5 SUI Flavio Marazzi, Enrico De Maria 59

6 FRA Xavier Rohart, Pascal Rambeau 69

7 GER Marc Pickel, Ingo Borkowski 70

8 POR Afonso Domingos, Bernardo Santos 72

9 NZL Hamish Pepper, Carl Williams 80

10 ITA Diego Negri, Luigi Viale 92

- YachtPals Crew for YachtPals.com

READ MORE ABOUT THE Star Class Sailboat, OR SAILING AT THE Olympics:

• Olympics (all news, photos, boat information, and blogs about sailing at the Olympics)
• Interview with Sarah Mergenthaller of the US Olympic Sailing Team
• Sailors in the Spotlight - 2008 Olympic Sailing Teams
• Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics - US Olympic Sailing Team
• Sailing at the 2008 Olympics - Laser and Laser Radial Results
• Sailing at the Olympics - Finn Race Results
• Sailing at the Olympics - 49er Race Results
• Sailing at the Olympics - Yngling Race Results
• Sailing at the 2008 Olympics - Tornado Race Results
• Sailing at the 2008 Olympics - Star Class Race Results
• Olympic Sailing Medals Finn Class - Ainslie, Railey, Florent
• Olympic Sailing Medals - 49ers Can't Find Gold
• Olympic Sailing Yngling Medals - Great Britain takes the Gold
• Olympic Medals 470 - Aussie, Aussie!
• Olympic Sailing Laser Medals - GOODison as GOLD
• Olympic Sailing Medals - Anna Tunnicliffe of USA Gold in Laser Radial
• Olympic Sailing Medals - Tornado's Swan Song

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-- Sailing at the 2008 Olympics - Quick Look at Olympic Sailing Classes --

Multihull Sailboat = Tornado
Skiff Doublehanded Open Sailboat = 49er
Women's Windsurfer = RS:X
Women's One Person Sailing Dinghy = Laser Radial
Women's Two Person Sailing Dinghy = 470
Women's Keelboat = Yngling
Men's Windsurfer = RS:X
Men's One Person Sailing Dinghy = Laser
Men's One Person Sailing Dinghy = FINN
Men's Two Person Sailing Dinghy = 470
Men's Keelboat = Star