A fourth Gold for one of my favorite nations
on Thursday August 21, 2008 06:23AM
Like father, like son. Back before WWII, and this started in Europemore than two years before Pearl Harbor, my father
turned to BBC to hear the play by play report of the latest Test Match, cricket, between England and Australia. With
live coverage unavailable I'm reduced to reading about Olympic sailing on my Macbook. The Star final may not have been a nailbiter like the Laser radial but in the end Ian Piercy and his crew got the requisite place ahead of the Swedes.
And in second place none other than Robert Scheidt whose second place finish behind Ben Ainslie in the 1999 World Championships in Melbourne in January of 1999 was one of the few World's where the Brazilian finished other than first. And when Ainslie turned the tables on Scheidt in the Y2K Sydney Olympics his effigy was torched in Sao Paulo.
Talk about competition between nations and national pride, maybe the Chinese still have a lot to learn.Copied directly from BBC News.
GB sailors take Star gold medal
Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory. Video - Gold star performance by GB sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won Britain's fourth sailing gold as they held their nerve in a thrilling climax to the Star class event in Qingdao. Percy and Simpson started the medal race in second place and had to fight tooth and claw with Sweden before getting to the line just ahead of them. The gold provided the perfect finish to Britain's most successful ever regatta. Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada took silver, and Sweden's Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom claimed the bronze.
606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Percy and Simpson's win Britain finished on 45 points, eight in front of the Brazilians and Swedes. The South Americans took silver by virtue of their better result in the medal race. Percy and Simpson added another gold medal to Britain's tally in Qingdao, following in the wake of Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison and the Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson. "It's unbelievable and it's so special to do it with this fella (Simpson)," said Percy, after claiming the second Olympic gold of his career. "I knew we weren't going to bottle it, and we didn't." Simpson, who took gold in his first ever Olympics, added: "I'm just shocked. To do this after this week and this year we've had is unbelievable. "There are no words to describe how happy we are.
Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory. Video - Star sailors in shock after gold win "Since last year, everything focused on this week. We've worked really hard for the last 12 months. "We had to pull it back from the brink. It was a tough race and we just did enough." Britain eventually finished fifth in the medal race, behind race winners Poland, but the crucial factor was that they finished ahead of Sweden. The two boats were neck-and-neck for much of the race but Percy and Simpson, who started the race two points behind Sweden, did just enough to keep their noses in front as the pressure increased in the closing stages.
GB sailors take Star gold medal
Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory. Video - Gold star performance by GB sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won Britain's fourth sailing gold as they held their nerve in a thrilling climax to the Star class event in Qingdao. Percy and Simpson started the medal race in second place and had to fight tooth and claw with Sweden before getting to the line just ahead of them. The gold provided the perfect finish to Britain's most successful ever regatta. Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada took silver, and Sweden's Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom claimed the bronze.
606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Percy and Simpson's win Britain finished on 45 points, eight in front of the Brazilians and Swedes. The South Americans took silver by virtue of their better result in the medal race. Percy and Simpson added another gold medal to Britain's tally in Qingdao, following in the wake of Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison and the Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson. "It's unbelievable and it's so special to do it with this fella (Simpson)," said Percy, after claiming the second Olympic gold of his career. "I knew we weren't going to bottle it, and we didn't." Simpson, who took gold in his first ever Olympics, added: "I'm just shocked. To do this after this week and this year we've had is unbelievable. "There are no words to describe how happy we are.
Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory. Video - Star sailors in shock after gold win "Since last year, everything focused on this week. We've worked really hard for the last 12 months. "We had to pull it back from the brink. It was a tough race and we just did enough." Britain eventually finished fifth in the medal race, behind race winners Poland, but the crucial factor was that they finished ahead of Sweden. The two boats were neck-and-neck for much of the race but Percy and Simpson, who started the race two points behind Sweden, did just enough to keep their noses in front as the pressure increased in the closing stages.