470 Sailors Stookey/Van Voorhis Finish Fourth At Olympic Regatta

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470 SAILORS STOOKEY/VAN VOORHIS FINISH FOURTH AT OLYMPIC REGATTA

Reeser/Burnham Take Eighth in Men's; Solings to Finish Semis and Finals Tomorrow

SAVANNAH, GA (Aug. 1, 1996)--With medals awarded already in seven yachting disciplines, only the 470s (men and women) and Solings competed today at the Olympic Regatta. True to schedule, the 470s completed an 11-race series, but Solings were cut short on their semifinals match races by late-afternoon thunderstorms that displaced the day's sunny skies and 10-12 knot breezes.

The USA's women 470 sailors Kris Stookey (Darien, Conn.) and Louise Van Voorhis (Webster, N.Y.) took fourth in the final standings after finishing 11th in today's single race. To win the bronze, the duo had to break their overall third-place tie with The Ukraine by finishing ahead of them. "We started on top," said Stookey, "but we didn't have good speed on the first leg." Stookey said she realized that the boat's jib was "tired from all the storms, so we made adjustments to compensate." The duo had rounded the windward mark deep in the fleet, but their fine tuning combined with heading left toward the storm clouds put them on The Ukraine's trail again. The Ukrainian team, however, found the same good lift near the thunderdome and rode it to a second-place finish while Stookey/Van Voorhis climbed to 11th.

"We won't be on the podium," said Stookey, about her first Olympic competition, "but we are very happy with our accomplishment. We tried to do in a year and a half what others have done over many years." She noted the 12-year campaign of defending champion Theresa Zabell from Spain, who again took home the gold with crew Begona Via Dufresne. Van Voorhis concurred that a fourth overall was the team's best finish at an international regatta. "We sailed our best, and nobody can take that away from us," said Van Voorhis.

In the 470 men's division, USA's Morgan Reeser and Kevin Burnham (Wilton Manors/Coral Gables, Fla.) had an outside chance for bronze but had to finish no worse than third while putting asunder Great Britain and Portugal to get it. The three countries kept close tabs on each other, with USA finishing 14th and Great Britain and Portugal finishing 12th and 16th for respective silver and bronze.

"We had three firsts and a fourth in the seabreeze races that were typical of Savannah," said Reeser about a series that saw his finishes go from first place to 20th. "We missed a break or two when the weather wasn't cooperating." Reeser also noted his disappointment with being disqualified from race nine for a premature start. He and Burnham had crossed the finish line in second place. The team requested redress and when they were denied, had the case re-opened. "All I can tell you is that the primary line sighter said that no one was over," said Reeser. The case was closed again, with the unfavorable ruling intact.

The USA's Soling sailors Jeff Madrigali/Kent Massey/Jim Barton (San Anselmo/Santa Barbara/Fairfax, Calif.) today matched up against Russia in a best three-of-five semifinals series. Russia was up by two races when a third race, being won by the Americans, was abandoned due to the storm. With the Germans also two up on Great Britain, a revised schedule for a 10:00 start tomorrow could leave more results in this regatta up to luck or lack of it thereof. If weather should pre-empt all racing before the 1:00 finals, current leaders will move on to the finals. If scores are tied by the 1:00 finals, leaders will be determined by fleet racing finishes.

(end)

1996 Olympic Regatta
DAY 11 Results (Top-three and USA)
Aug. 1, 1996 

Position, Skipper/Crew (Hometown), Country, Finish Positions (throwout), Cumulative Score.

EUROPE (28 boats)--COMPLETED 7/31
GOLD, Kristine Roug, DEN, 2-1-3-2-1-2-(8)-1-(8)-7-5; 24.
SILVER, Margriet Matthijsse, NED, (PMS)-2-1-10-2-1-1-4-(12)-5-4; 30. 
BRONZE, Courtenay Becker-Dey (Rye, N.Y./The Dalles, Ore.), USA, 
1-8-2-4-7-6-3-(14)-(9)-2-6; 39.

FINN (31 boats)--COMPLETED 7/29
GOLD, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, POL, (10)-4-(20)-4-9-1-2-1-1-10; 32.
SILVER, Sebastien Godefroid, BEL, 13-(24)-5-5-4-3-(16)-7-2-6; 45.
BRONZE, Roy Heiner, NED, (21)-7-6-11-6-11-1-(12)-6-2; 50.  
23. Will Martin (Charleston, S.C.), USA, (PMS)-22-18-12-21-2-(PMS)-25-17-19; 136.

470 MEN (36 boats)--COMPLETED 8/1
GOLD, Yevhen Braslavets/Ihor Matviyenko, UKR, 2-2-3-1-(16)-5-1-9-10-7-(DNC); 40.
SILVER, John Merricks/Ian Merricks, GBR, 15-1-4-(27)-(DSQ)-4-2-6-15-2-12; 61.
BRONZE, Vitor Rocha/Nuno Barreto, POR, 5-10-(17)-7-4-8-9-5-2-(12)-(16); 62.
8, Morgan Reeser/Kevin Burnham (Wilton Manors/Coral Gables, Fla.), USA, 
20-9-6-9-1-11-(DSQ)-4-(PMS)-1-14; 75.

470 WOMEN (22 boats)--COMPLETED 8/1
GOLD, Theresa Zabell/Begona Via Dufresne, ESP, 4-2-(11)-8-2-1-3-(10)-3-1-1; 25.
SILVER, Yumiko Shige/Alicia Kinoshita, JPN, 3-7-(13)-6-1-3-2-(11)-1-6-7; 36.
BRONZE, Rusian Taran/Olena Pakholchik, UKR, 1-5-4-9-(12)-8-(18)-1-4-4-2; 38.
4, Kris Stookey/Louise Van Voorhis (Darien, Conn./Webster, N.Y.), USA, 2-8-2-1-4-12-(14)-2-(14)-5-11; 47.

LASER (56 boats)--COMPLETED 7/31
GOLD, Robert Scheidt, BRA, 2-(9)-3-6-1-3-(7)-2-1-1-DSQ; 26.  
SILVER, Ben Ainslie, GBR, (27)-4-7-2-2-1-2-1-(16)-2-(DSQ); 37.  
BRONZE, Peer Moberg, NOR, 1-7-9-1-9-(10)-1-(21)-3-5-11; 46.
21, Nick Adamson (Newport Beach, Calif.), USA, 9-(DSQ)-13-7-13-14-10-(DSQ)-27-14-DSQ; 164.

MISTRAL MEN (46 boats)--COMPLETED 7/29
GOLD, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, GRE, 5-1-2-6-1-(9)-1-1-(DNC); 17.  
SILVER, Carlos Espinola, ARG, 2-4-4-2-3-6-(DSQ)-2-2; 19.  
BRONZE, Gal Fridman, ISR, 1-6-5-3-(10)-1-(9)-4-1; 21.
6, Mike Gebhardt (Ft. Pierce, Fla.), USA, 10-(16)-3-4-5-(23)-4-11-4; 41.

MISTRAL WOMEN (27 boats)--COMPLETED 7/29
GOLD, Lai Shan Lee, HKG, 3-2-2-2-4-2-(7)-1-(DNC); 16.
SILVER, Barbara Kendall, NZL, 2-3-(6)-1-(10)-5-5-6-2; 24.
BRONZE, Alessandra Sensini, ITA, 1-8-1-6-7-(15)-(14)-5-1; 28.
11, Lanee Butler (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), USA, 9-(15)-(18)-7-11-13-1-8-4; 53.

SOLING (22 boats)--MATCH RACING (win-loss)
Semifinals: RUS ahead of USA (2-0)
Jeff Madrigali/Kent Massey/Jim Barton (San Anselmo/Santa Barbara/Fairfax, Calif.).
GER ahead GBR (2-0).

STAR  (25 boats)--COMPLETED 7/29
GOLD, Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira, BRA, 1-6-2-(7)-1-4-(9)-2-6-3; 25.
SILVER, Hans Wallen/Bobbie Lohse, SWE, 4-7-7-(8)-2-1-3-4-(8)-1; 29.
BRONZE, Colin Beashel/David Giles, AUS, (11)-1-1-1-8-3-2-7-9-(PMS); 32.
8, Mark Reynolds/Hal Haenel (San Diego/Los Angeles, Calif.), USA, 3-2-5-5-5-(21)-15-(22)-18-5; 58.

TORNADO (19 boats)--COMPLETED 7/30
GOLD, Fernando Leon/Jose Luis Ballester, ESP, 2-2-4-5-5-2-4-3-(PMS)-3-(DNC); 30.
SILVER, Mitch Booth/Anerew Landenberger, AUS, 1-5-6-2-14-(17)-1-1-(PMS)-2-10; 42.
BRONZE, Lars Grael/Kiko Pellicano, BRA, (12)-(16)-1-8-6-8-2-5-3-7-3; 43.
8, John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree (New Orleans, La./Kemah, Texas), USA, 3-4-8-4-4-(11)-3-(12)-1-10-12; 48.

PMS=Premature Start   DSQ=Disqualified  DNC = Did Not Complete