Californians MADRIGALI/MASSEY/BARTON Win Soling Bronze

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CALIFORNIANS MADRIGALI/MASSEY/BARTON WIN SOLING BRONZE

Olympic Regatta Concludes with Two Bronze Medals For USA

SAVANNAH, GA (Aug. 2, 1996)--Californians Jeff Madrigali/Kent Massey/Jim Barton (San Anselmo/Santa Barbara/Fairfax, Calif.) won the USA's second and final medal on the last day of the Olympic Regatta in Savannah. The trio sailed to bronze this afternoon by beating Great Britain 3-1 in a best three-of-five match racing series. Earlier this morning, the USA had lost to Russia in a deciding race carried over from yesterday's incompleted semifinal round. The Russians, with a clean 3-0 semis sweep against the Americans, went on to the gold-medal round to take silver to Germany's gold.

"In the semifinals with Russia, it was light air, and we had been having speed problems in light air all week," said Madrigali. "This morning, it was light again and they were just faster and basically sailed away from us." In the bronze-medal round that started immediately afterward, the Madrigali team started off--again in light 6-knot winds--with a loss to Great Britain. "After we had lost four in a row, it started to look bad for us, but then we finally won one and the spectator boats finally had something to cheer about." By that time, a storm had moved in, serving up 18-20 knot breezes. It left in its wake brisk 15-knot breezes that helped the USA clinch the series. "When the sea breeze came in after the postponement, our speed came back and it was easier," said Madrigali. His team had finished second to Germany in the fleet racing portion of the event, which propelled the top six boats to the match racing series.

"We knew going into this we had to be top six. Being second was huge. It eliminated a series for us," added Madrigali, explaining that his team got a bye in the quarterfinals, which eliminated Denmark and Canada. "This has been a long campaign, so it's good to come out of it with a medal. We had as good a chance as anyone for a gold."

Europe sailor Courtenay Becker-Dey (Rye, N.Y./The Dalles, Ore.) won the USA's only other medal, also a bronze. Brazil won the most medals--two golds and one bronze--with Spain taking two golds and only five additional countries taking as many as two medals each. The record stood testimony to the tough competition, which was further evidenced by 22 different countries winning 30 medals here compared to 12 nations winning 30 at Barcelona in 1992.

The 1996 Olympic Regatta, which began July 22, hosted a record 458 sailors from 73 nations. The USA finished top-eight in seven of ten disciplines, a record followed by Australia with six and Great Britain and Spain with five each.

(end)

1996 Olympic Regatta
FINAL RESULTS (Top-three and USA)
Aug. 2, 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 
Semifinals: GER defeated GBR 3-0, RUS defeated USA 3-0;
Finals: GER defeated RUS 3-0, USA defeated GBR 3-1
GOLD, Jochen Schuemann/Thomas Flach/Bernd Jaekel, GER.
SILVER, Georgiy Shayduko/Dmitriy Shabanov/Igor Skalin, RUS.
BRONZE, Jeff Madrigali/Kent Massey/Jim Barton (San Anselmo/Santa Barbara/Fairfax, Calif.).
4, Andrew Beadsworth/Barry Parkin/George Adrian Stead, GBR.

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