Olympic Sailing Medals - Tornado's Swan Song

Qingdao, China - Is it fitting that the last Olympic race the Tornado Class may ever see was also the fastest, most exciting sailing of the 2008 Olympics? Yes it is. After watching the various one-design sailboats bob around in almost no wind for most of the Beijing Olympics, the Tornado Class got one last chance to show the spectators why this became an Olympic class in the first place - speed, skill and action. With race speeds reaching 18 knots, it became clear to everyone why this boat is the thoroughbred of the Olympic fleet, and now it is gone.

It was only 12-15 knots of breeze, but to those who have been watching the Qingdao Millpond, it looked like a hurricane. While most of the other classes were about as exciting to watch as paint drying - particularly for non-sailors - the Tornados put on a show that made even casual observers stop in their tracks. Now there are many millions more people asking the same question about the decision to drop the catamarans from the London Games: "What are they thinking?"

Great Britain's Leigh McMillan and Will Howden dominated the course after taking an early lead, and rocketed around the marks with Canada's Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle hot on their heels. While neither team medaled, they put on a great race that had the crowds cheering, and Germany's capsize after the first mark exemplified how on-the-edge these boats are - literally. With hulls flying, the difference between right side up and upside down can be a gust, a wave, or a moment's indecision.

The medalists finished the race in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. The Gold went to Spain's Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz Blanco, the Silver to Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia, and the Bronze to Argentina's Santiago Lange and Carlos Espínola. As a further testament to the excitement of this fleet, whereas the other classes often saw no first-place race finishers on the podium (slow and steady winning the race), the Tornado class saw a shared nine wins by the medalists.

Said Fernando Echavarri of the Gold: “After 10 years of training we finally got our first Olympic medal. We feel like we’re the luckiest ones here. We’ve been performing very well together as a team. We’ve been winning championships and regattas, but this is the most important win of them all.” Clearly the win was important for many, with the the sounds of "OLE! OLE! OLE!" coming from shore as the Spanish team and Spaniards-for-the-day started the victory chant for Spanish Gold.

The top of the podium was in contention throughout the race, and a bad start put the Aussie team in the worst part of the course. “We are a little disappointed. We are here for the gold but we missed it because we stuffed up at the start and we parked. We’re still extremely happy about the silver,” said 2008 Olympic medalist Bundock.

Argentina had the most erratic medal record in the class, with four wins, and three double-digit point finishes throughout the racing. Santiago Lange and Carlos Espínola took sixth in the medal race, sailing hard, to earn their spot on the podium, and the smiles from these two lit up the breakwater as the cheers swelled. Overall, a fantastic finish and series for a boat with such a sad Olympic fate.

Tornado Class Catamaran - Olympic Sailing Overall Results

1 ESP Fernando Echavarri, Anton Paz Blanco 44

2 AUS Darren Bundock, Glenn Ashby 49

3 ARG Santiago Lange, Carlos Espínola 56

4 CAN Oskar Johansson, Kevin Stittle 61

5 NED Mitch Booth, Pim Nieuwenhuis 64

6 GBR Leigh McMillan, Will Howden 68

7 ITA Francesco Marcolini, Edoardo Bianchi 74

8 GER Johannes Polgar, Florian Spalteholz 74

9 AUT Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher 82

10 GRE Iordanis Paschalidis, Konstantinos Trigonis 82

- YachtPals Crew for YachtPals.com

READ MORE ABOUT THE Tornado 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 RSS FEED

-- 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