Olympic Sailing - Day 8 - Video Observations

By Doug

 There were 2 really close races that were determined at the very end.

Star Gold Medal Race: Defending double gold medalist Ian Percy (GBR) was 8 points ahead of double gold medalist Robert Scheidt (BRA) and 12 points ahead of SWE. On the final run, SWE was leading and GBR was in 5th, ahead of BRA:

With SWE winning , GBR had to finish 6th (because of the double points in metal races):

But in an incredibly close finish, there was more pressure for the boats closest to the camera and GBR (furthest away) was passed by 3 boats. SWE wins gold!

Finn Gold Medal Race: Three time gold medalist Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Jonas Hogh-christensen (DEN) were in a virtual tie. Before the start GBR hunted DEN who defended by circling around the committee boat. The start was clean with DEN safely to leeward of GBR:

GBR had to tack away and when they met again GBR had the advantage:

GRR was ahead at the first mark:

On the run, unlimited pumping was permitted (something many Laser sailors are not used to watching) and GBR pumped into 3rd. On the next beat, GBR covered DEN:

Both sailed close to shore:

On the run, DEN chose to not cover GBR:

But GBR covered DEN on the next beat:

And then GBR tacked away permitting DEN to have its own breeze:

When they converged, GBR was still in front:

On the final run, DEN cannot catch GBR, but if NED is able to pass NZL to move get onto second, then NED would win a 3-way tiebreaker for the gold!!

At first, NED chose to not go after NZL:

Then things heated up:

At the bottom of the run, the commentators said that NED made a mistake, but it was difficult to tell from the video. NED slipped to 5th:

So Ben Ainslie wins the tiebreaker with DEN and his 4th gold medal. Well done!

Update: Apparently NED's boom hit NZL's weather deck and had to do a 720 penalty turn. With an inside overlap and short reach to the finish, NED had a good chance to finish 2nd and win the gold on the three-way tiebreaker. And sailing history would be different. Amazing racing!