Marseille, France – On the final day of Olympic sailing for the ILCAs, the Australian reigning champion, Matt Wearn, went into the race carrying a 14-point advantage, knowing Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides was the only sailor who could overtake him.
At first, Wearn attempted to match race the Cypriot sailor until the opening attempt at the Medal Race was abandoned. In the second installment, the fleet leader decided to go all out and stormed to victory in the crucial race to clinch gold in Marseille.
The result means Australia has now won the last four Men’s Dinghy Olympic gold medals, beginning with Tom Slingsby in London and continuing with Tom Burton in Rio and Wearn in Tokyo and Paris.
Kontides, appearing in his fifth Olympic Games, recreated the magic of London 2012 – where he picked up a silver medal – crossing the finish line right behind Wearn to take another Olympic silver.
Stefano Peschiera, who was part of World Sailing’s Emerging Nations Program, completed the top three. Despite finishing ninth in the Medal Race, he managed to hold on to take home a famous bronze for Peru – their first Olympic medal in 32 years.
Wearn said: “The last three years have been an up and down ride, but we kept ticking boxes. It was a matter of executing this week and we did that.
“It’s been quite hard to deal with the waiting at times, luckily we didn’t have to wait for another day and now we can celebrate and have some fun. My parents have helped me all the way. There have been times when I haven’t enjoyed the sport as much, but they’ve really helped, they’re incredible parents.
“The expectation has been tougher this time, being the reigning champion and winning the last two World Championships. I had that target on my back and that was new and different.”
Kontides said: “I’m over the moon, I had tears of joy sailing back to the shore. And then I was with my wife, my family, my friends who were supporting me. A second Olympic medal for my country and it came from myself.”
Peschiera said: “It’s hard to describe how this feels. It took a lot of hard work, and it came out positively throughout the week, and finally closing out the chapter is such a relief after such a tough race.
“I try to be a perfectionist, so I’m never going to celebrate until I know that that’s my medal so I think that’s what got me here. I wanted to ask my coach and when he confirmed it, I had a roller coaster of emotions.”
Marit Bouwmeester finally got her hands on gold after completing the Women’s Dinghy Medal Race.
The Dutch sailor had already wrapped up the gold medal after finishing in the top five on seven occasions during the Opening Series, but persistent light wind meant she had to wait an extra day before getting her long-awaited prize.
By winning gold, Bouwmeester became the most successful female Olympic sailor ever, overtaking Great Britain’s two-time Olympic champion Hannah Mills in the process.
Bouwmeester crossed the line in fourth in the Medal Race after wrapping up the top spot quickly, meaning she has now won two golds in Paris and Rio, a silver in London and a bronze in Tokyo.
Anne-Marie Rindom was unable to defend her Olympic title from Tokyo but settled for a super silver, which she also had wrapped up prior to the Medal Race, in which she finished fifth.
The only medal up for grabs heading into the Medal Race was the bronze and it was Line Flem Hoest’s to lose. The Norwegian went into the finale sitting in third and held on to that spot, crossing the finish line in second behind Italy’s Chiara Benini Floriani to take home a bronze medal.
Bouwmeester said: “In the build-up to the Medal Race I tried to stay focused, but I’m also a mum as well so I had to be there for Jessie Mae. I’ve been with her a lot, putting her to bed and being there when she wakes up. It’s nice to finally finish it off, it hasn’t sunk in yet.
“I think sometimes at the Olympics you can get too serious too quickly, so it’s nice to have a distraction with Jessie Mae. Then you also have the lack of sleep and the loss of energy, but I’m grateful to be a mum and an athlete.
“I have so much respect for Line and Anne-Marie, we push each other all the way. There’s a mutual respect between us.”
Rindom said: “It’s huge just to get to an Olympic Games so to secure a medal is amazing. It’s really hard to perform at an Olympics and it’s been nerve-wracking, but I kept fighting right to the end. I don’t think this was my last race.”
Line Flem Hoest said: “My plan was to have a good start and go off my speed. I managed to reel it back in and get my speed up. I thought the left looked good before the start and only started thinking about my competitors after the first mark.
“You never know what can happen in a race, so I tried to keep it cool and stay where I thought it would be best, and on the last downwind, I saw it was going to go my way, and that was amazing.”
How it works:
Medals for the Women’s and Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 6 and ILCA 7) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 40-strong fleet over 10 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The sailor with the smallest overall points total will win gold.
This article was edited by ILCA with content provided by World Sailing, published initially on paris2024.sailing.org