| PORTSMOUTH, R.I. USA-(28-8-2003) The completion of today’s lone race in
each of six events on the Saronic Gulf has brought down the curtain for
athletes participating in sailing’s final rehearsal prior to the 2004
Olympic Games. The 2003 Athens Regatta, held August 14-28 at the Agios
Kosmas Sailing Centre in Glyfadha, hosted 400 athletes from 43 countries.
This dry-run, the second for the sport of sailing due to the varied
conditions found on the field of play, is geared primarily to allow
organizers an opportunity to refine all the systems and procedures to be
utilized during the Olympic Regatta. As will be the case next year, each
nation was permitted only one entry for each of the 11 events. The Olympic
Sailing Committee (OSC) of US SAILING, national governing body for the
sport, sent a full team of 18 athletes. Medals were determined yesterday in
five of the 11 events the US claimed silver in the Star and Yngling
events -- with today’s racing determining the final positions in the
remaining six events.
Aggression in the 27-boat Europe fleet earned eight boats, including Meg
Gaillard (Jamestown, R.I./Pelham, N.Y.), an OCS score in today’s final race.
Today’s result dropped Gaillard from fifth to seventh overall in the final
standings. Also dropping from yesterday’s fifth-place position were 49er
sailors Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Coral Gables,
Fla.), who dropped to eighth overall after placing 14th in today’s race in
their 22-boat fleet. In the Laser class, Ben Richardson (Gloucester, Mass.)
used today’s 31st-place finish as his discard score, dropping from 20th in
that 34-boat fleet to 26th overall. Suffering the most from the light,
fluky conditions were the sailors in the two Mistral events. With only nine
of the planned 11 races completed, Ben Barger (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
finished 24th out of 26 in the Mistral men’s event, while Lanee Butler
(Aliso Viejo, Calif.) finished 13th out of 21 in the Mistral women’s event.
Tornado sailors Robbie Daniel (Clearwater, Fla.) and Eric Jacobsen
(Annapolis, Md.), who were 10th at the 2002 test event, moved up to an
eighth overall in the final standings on the strength of today’s
fourth-place result. Complete results are online at www.athens2004.com
Team Leader Jonathan Harley (Middletown, R.I.), who has been to 12 Olympic
test events in his 20-plus years as US SAILING’s Olympic Director, reported
that event organizers have recognized their challenges and know that they
will make some changes for next year. “The criteria for abandoning races
was a bone of contention, but there is nothing you can do about the weather
except be prepared.” The fickle breeze and “unbelievably hot” temperatures
was frustrating for both competitors and organizers. “Of all the Olympic
test events I've attended, this was the one which was the most prepared, and
most close to the actual Games in almost every respect.”
“We learned a ton, and there are areas where we need work,” observed Harley
“but we’re knocking at the door and it’s very exciting.” He noted that the
experience gained at the 2003 Athens Regatta will make these sailors
formidable competitors should they win their respective Olympic Team Trials
to become a member of the USA’s 2004 Olympic Team. The Games of the XXVIII
Olympiad will be held August 13-29, 2004, in Athens, Greece. For more
information on the upcoming US Olympic Team Trials-Sailing, visit:
www.ussailing.org/Olympics/
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