August 19: One For The Record Books

For NBCOlympics.com
Report # 9

The wind was light, the waves choppy, the visibility diminished, and the stakes high.  This was the scene for the Laser Radial medal race in Qingdao on Tuesday.   American Anna Tunnicliffe had to finish 4th or better to secure a Gold medal.  No USA woman had won a Gold since 1988.  Several thousand fans were a few hundred yards away on the sea wall screaming for these 10 women. Among them USA team leader Dean Brenner and the US Sailing Team looked and cheered like Super Bowl fans.  The race was one that will be talked about for many years.

All this is easy in big winds, when things are crashing around and adrenaline is racing through the body.  But in light wind it is like playing chess on a moving board. Every action must be precise.  The Laser Radials are identical in every way.  After 10 races, the competitors have learned how to maximize speed, so in this medal race it came down to determination and nerves.

The start looked confusing.  I think the competitors were not really sure whether to attack each other or go for a clean start.  At the gun, an individual recall flag was flown.  On the world feed microphone, I heard the RC say that one boat was over.  To my eye it looked like Jo Aleh from New Zealand was the boat that jumped the gun.    But Anna Tunnicliffe immediately turned back to restart, and so did 3 other boats.  Remember there are only 10 boats in the race.  Lithuania’s Gintare Volungeviciute needed four boats between her and Anna to win the Gold.  Complicating the math a little more, China’s popular Lijia Xu was also in the Gold medal sweepstakes.  

After the start Gintare took an early lead with Lijia close behind.  By time the boat’s reached the first mark of the four leg race LTU was third, CHN fourth and the USA in 8th.  The Gold was slipping way for Anna.  It got worse. Tunnicliffe tried sailing high on the run and got caught away from the mark and slipped back to 9th. She was now in the bronze position.   There were just two legs and about 20 minutes of sailing to go.  

Back on the wind and now AUS and NZL sat on USA’s wind. The leaders tacked to the right hand side of the course because there seemed to have more wind over there on the first leg.  At first Anna thought about going that way too. But off in the distance Anna Tunnicliffe saw some new wind developing from the left.  She split with the leaders.  Time was running out. And then like a miracle a puff of wind that was only about 5 knots filled in from the left. The wind also shifted about 30 degrees in that direction.  Suddenly Anna was sailing over the top of CHN and passing six boats.  She rounded the last mark in 3rd with LTU leading. LTU needed four boats between them, but she only had one.  Anna got another gust and sailed right over the top of Australia’s Sarah Blanck to finish 2nd. With that Anna Tunnicliffe earned her Gold Medal. It all happened so fast that it was hard to believe it was true.

You never know in sports when your moment will come.  The NY Giants found a way to win in the 2008 Super Bowl. Who can forget that receiver catching the ball with his head. Or Michael Phelps giving one more power stroke to reach out and touch the wall and win.  This race was that dramatic for sailors.  And how about this: Anna is only 25, and game to try again. I hope young sailors across America are inspired by this courageous sailor who did not give up.

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