September 13, 13:49 in Press Release
Great Britain’s 2008 Beijing Paralympic sailing campaign has ended in disappointment in Qingdao today (Saturday 13 September).
Britain’s sailors went in to the final day of the six-day regatta still harbouring slender hopes of medals in all three classes but despite their huge efforts and some outstanding last day performances, the Brits ended in fifth, sixth and seventh overall across the three fleets.
The British Sonar three-person keelboat crew of John Robertson, Stephen Thomas and Hannah ...
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September 12, 12:43 in Press Release
Britain’s Paralympic sailors will be looking for one final massive effort on the closing day of the Beijing 2008 regatta as they bid to upset the odds and clinch last-gasp sailing silverware for ParalympicsGB tomorrow.
The Brits currently sit in fourth, seventh and eighth across the three classes but all three boats still have the mathematical possibility of snatching medals from the clasps of the current leaders going into the final two races.
Helena Lucas in the 2.4mR one-person keelboat is ...
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September 11, 13:28 in Press Release
Alex Rickham had plenty of reasons to smile on her 27th birthday as she and helm Niki Birrell picked up their first race win of the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Regatta in Qingdao today (Thursday 11 September).
With just one of today’s three scheduled races sailed due to a lack of wind, birthday girl Rickham and Birrell, racing in the SKUD-18 two-person keelboat, overcame a poor start when racing did eventually get underway after a three-hour delay to hold their nerve in a tense sprint for the line ...
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September 9, 13:49 in Press Release
Britain’s Paralympic sailors will be looking for an upturn in fortunes in the second part of the week after reaching the midway point of the Beijing 2008 regatta in Qingdao.
With the full scheduled complement of five races completed after two days, tomorrow (Wednesday) will be a rest day for the athletes meaning the six Brits, who currently lie in sixth, seventh and seventh overall in the three classes, will look to regroup ahead of the restart of racing on Thursday in a bid to work their way u...
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September 8, 14:36 in Press Release
Great Britain’s sailors got off to a steady start as the 2008 Beijing Paralympic regatta got underway in Qingdao today (Monday 8 September).
A record 80 sailors, competing across three Paralympic classes, from 25 nations have converged on the Olympic Sailing Centre for the six-day regatta, with all three British boats harbouring hopes of a podium finish.
With almost a two-hour delay for the SKUD-18 and 2.4mR fleets due to a lack of wind, it was the 14 boats of the Sonar three-person keelboat c...
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September 5, 18:18 in Press Release
Great Britain’s Paralympic team sailors will be on a mission to replicate the success of the country’s history-making sailors at last month’s Olympics when the curtain is officially raised at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on Saturday (6 September).
Six sailors representing ParalympicsGB in three classes get their 2008 Paralympic campaigns underway in Qingdao on Monday (8 September) with the memory of Britain’s all-time best Olympic sailing six-medal haul still fresh in their minds.
A rec...
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August 21, 11:40 in Press Release
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson have won Star class gold on a thrilling final day of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Regatta today, leaving Britain’s sailors with their best Olympic medal haul for 100 years.
Sydney 2000 Finn gold medallist Percy and Simpson, making his Olympic debut, went into the race two points behind Swedes Freddie Loof and Anders Ekstrom but with one eye also on Brazilians Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada behind them in third.
In a nail-biting encounter, Percy and Simpson executed a ...
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August 20, 17:37 in Press Release
Bryony Shaw has won Great Britain’s first ever women’s windsurfing medal clinching RS:X bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Qingdao today (Wednesday 20 August).
Shaw, who won the 2007 Olympic Test Event, knew a top three finish in the double points medal race would guarantee her a medal at her first ever Olympic Games, going into the race in bronze medal position eight points behind leader Jian Yin (CHN) and five behind Alessandra Sensini (ITA) in second.
The Brit showed her intent fro...
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August 19, 11:51 in Press Release
Paul Goodison has won Laser class gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Qingdao today (Tuesday 19 August), Britain’s third sailing gold of the Games and fourth medal in total for the sport.
Four-time European champion Goodison, who finished fourth on his Olympic debut at Athens 2004, lead the fleet by 18 points going into today’s double points medal race meaning as long as the Brit did not finish 10th and last in the race and second-placed Swede Rasmus Myrgren win it, the Olympic crown woul...
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August 18, 13:31 in Press Release
Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield have won their second successive 470 men’s silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Regatta in Qingdao today (Monday 18 August).
And Paul Goodison is all but guaranteed at least a Laser class silver medal, leading the fleet by 18 points, going into tomorrow’s scheduled medal race.
Rogers and Glanfield, who started the day in fourth place overall five points behind the Dutch team of Sven and Kalle Coster in second and three behind Nicholas Charbonnier and Olivier B...
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August 17, 14:32 in Press Release
It has been an historic day (Sunday 17 Aug) for Great Britain’s sailors as Ben Ainslie sealed Finn class gold and Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson swept to Yngling victory at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Regatta in Qingdao.
Five-time Finn World Champion Ainslie successfully defended the title he won at Athens 2004 to become Britain’s most decorated Olympic sailor of all time, surpassing Rodney Pattison’s previous record of two golds and one silver, a feat Ainslie had matched thanks to his...
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August 17, 12:14 in Press Release
It has been a historic day (Sunday 17 Aug) for Great Britain’s sailors as Ben Ainslie sealed Finn class gold and Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson swept to Yngling victory at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Regatta in Qingdao.
Five-time Finn World Champion Ainslie successfully defended the title he won at Athens 2004 to become Britain’s most decorated Olympic sailor of all time, surpassing Rodney Pattison’s previous record of two golds and one silver, a feat Ainslie had matched thanks to his L...
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August 16, 12:19 in Press Release
Qingdao’s infamous light winds have frustrated Ben Ainslie’s quest for his third successive Olympic title this morning with the Finn class medal race abandoned after 30 minutes with Ainslie in gold medal position.
Ainslie and the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, who were also supposed to sail for their medals today (Saturday), will now go for gold tomorrow (Sunday) as the medal races are rolled over a day.
After two postponements during the Finn class start sequence, r...
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August 15, 17:21 in Press Release
Triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie is guaranteed at least a Finn silver medal after the only race for the class on a difficult day in Qingdao (Friday 15 August).
The Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson have also ensured a medal for Team GB – a minimum of silver as long as they finish their medal race without incident – with a nail-biting showdown for gold on the cards with the Dutch trio of Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen in the women’s keelboat event.
Th...
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August 15, 13:12 in Press Release
Ben Ainslie is guaranteed at least a Finn class silver medal after the only race of a difficult day in Qingdao.
After a delay of almost four hours on the start, a second place for Ainslie in race eight, and a 19th for his nearest rival Zach Railey (USA), means defending champion Ainslie goes into tomorrow’s double points medal with a 12-point advantage over the American.
However, with 23 points separating Ainslie in first and Sweden’s Daniel Bigmark in third, it means the Brit cannot finis...
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August 15, 10:08 in Press Release
Norwegian Finn Sailor Peer Moberg has managed to get his DNE non-discardable disqualification reduced to a plain DSQ, after his Rule 69 hearing. Moberg will breathe a big sigh of relief. If the Rule 69 protest by the Jury had gone against him, and it had been proven that he had indeed made the type of abuse and threats that he was alleged to have made, it's possible he could have had his accreditation removed and for him to have been thrown out of the Olympic Village.As it is, he brought fresh e...
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August 14, 16:59 in Press Release
Racing proved impossible at the Olympic sailing regatta on Thursday (14 August), with painfully light winds confining all classes to shore on this sixth day of competition.
With wind speeds reaching only a patchy 3-5 knots across Fushan Bay, racing was eventually cancelled for the day, giving rise to a bumper schedule of sailing on Friday (15 August), featuring all 11 classes as organisers try to make up lost ground.
For the Star and Tornado sailors, Friday marks the long-awaited start of ...
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August 14, 09:33 in Press Release
Light winds have scuppered the sailing on day six of the 2008 Olympic sailing Regatta in Qingdao today with racing in all classes now cancelled for the day.
The latest from inside the Team GB camp suggested that the wind got up to no more than four knots before lunch in China and while there was a light S three-five knots of breeze mid-to-late afternoon it was very patchy.
Race four for the Finns, Ynglings, Lasers and Radials was postponed yesterday. All four classes plus the 49ers and RS:X s...
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August 14, 07:42 in Press Release
Three of Britain most promising sailors will get the chance to savour the experience of an Olympic Games in full flow when they fly to China as part of the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) ‘Britain’s Olympic Ambition 2012’ programme today.
49er helm Dave Evans from Cardiff, Laser sailor Eifion Mon from Anglesey and Hayling Island’s Frances Peters, who currently helms a 29er, were all nominated by Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Olympic Development Squad managers for the innovative BOA initi...
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August 14, 06:24 in Press Release
Norwegian Finn sailor Peer Moberg has been a very naughty boy, allegedly. He is facing a Rule 69 protest by the Jury this afternoon following allegations by the Canadian Finn sailor Chris Cook who claimed he had been subject to serious abuse and threats from the Norwegian sailor after a mark rounding incident in race 7 yesterday.
Cook protested Moberg under Rule 18.2a, the mark rounding rule. Moberg failed to turn up to the hearing which, according to Jury Chairman David Tillett, did the Norweg...
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