With One Race To Go, USA's 470 Sailors Still In Hunt For Olympic Medals

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WITH ONE RACE TO GO, USA's 470 SAILORS STILL IN HUNT FOR OLYMPIC MEDALS

Tornado Team Takes Eighth in Final Standings

SAVANNAH, GA (July 30, 1996)--Today's races in three disciplines at the Olympic Regatta were crucial for the USA. In men's and women's 470s, the results posted in two races for each class kept America in the hunt for silver or bronze. In the hotly contested Tornado class, today's final race of an 11-race series determined that three other countries will take the Olympic podium for this class at the regatta's fnal medal ceremony. A ceremony last evening awarded 12 medals to 12 different countries and concluded racing in the Finns, Mistrals (men and women) and Stars. (The USA finished out of the top three in each of these classes.) Medals for Lasers, Europes and Solings also remain to be awarded, with the USA in contention for the latter two classes.

With a 14th and a fifth today, the USA's women 470 sailors Kris Stookey (Darien, Conn.) and Louise Van Voorhis (Webster, N.Y.) are tied for third with the Ukraine. "We had a chance for the gold and we didn't do it," said Stookey, realizing that mathematically it would be impossible to catch the leader from Spain. "That's sailboat racing. Tomorrow, for the layday, we're going to sleep late, rent a video and not think about anything that has to do with Olympic rings, medals or achievement. We'll just clear our heads for the finals."

In the 470 men's division, USA's Morgan Reeser (Wilton Manors, Fla.) and Kevin Burnham (Coral Gables, Fla.) turned in a spectacular performance in race one only to learn that their second-place finish was negated by a premature start (PMS). In race two, they won and had it count. "We were so fast today, especially downwind," said Burnham, who verified that he and Reeser plan to contest the PMS ruling. As it stands before tonight's hearing, they are 11 points out of third.
A slow start disabled a plan by USA's John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree (New Orleans, La./Kemah, Texas) to put away their closest competitors. With gold having been sewn up by Spain yesterday, it was fair game for any one of six countries--the USA among them--to score silver and bronze medals.
"The only avenue we had to clear our wind was on the left-hand side of the course," said Lovell," and it was the wrong side." The team finished 12th in the race and eighth in overall standings. "Our goal was to be in there in the end and have a shot at a medal," added Lovell, reflecting on the Olympic experience. "We reached that goal."

Courtenay Becker-Dey (Rye, N.Y./The Dalles, Ore.) competes in her final Europe race tomorrow. She is in third place overall. Laser sailor Nick Adamson (Newport Beach, Calif.), also with one race to go, currently is in 15th overall.

The USA's Soling sailors Jeff Madrigali/Kent Massey/Jim Barton (San Anselmo/Santa Barbara/Fairfax, Calif.) finished second overall in the fleet racing portion of their Olympic event, which concluded yesterday. They, along with the fleet leaders from Great Britain, got to trade in their performance for an automatic bye in tomorrow's quarterfinals of the Soling match racing (one-on-one) event. The Soling is the only Olympic class that demands from its medal winners a finish in the top six for fleet racing before proceeding to a distinctly different type of competition The USA will begin its semifinals two days from now.

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1996 Olympic Regatta DAY 9 Results (Top-three and USA) July 30, 1996 Position, Skipper/Crew (Hometown), Country, Finish Positions (throwout), Cumulative Score. EUROPE (28 boats)--NO SCHEDULED RACING TODAY 1, Kristine Roug, DEN, 2-1-3-2-1-2-(8)-1-(8)-7; 19. 2, Margriet Matthijsse, NED, (PMS)-2-1-10-2-1-1-4-(12)-5; 26. 3, Courtenay Becker-Dey (Rye, N.Y./The Dalles, Ore.), USA, 1-8-2-4-7-6-3- (14)-(9)-2; 33. FINN (31 boats)--COMPLETED 2/29 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) 1, Yevhen Braslavets/Ihor Matviyenko, UKR, 2-2-3-1-(16)-5-1-9-(10)-8; 31. 2, John Merricks/Ian Merricks, GBR, 15-1-4-(27)-(DSQ)-4-2-6-15-2; 49. 3, Vitor Rocha/Nuno Barreto, POR, 5-10-(17)-7-4-8-9-5-2-(13); 50. 5, Morgan Reeser/Kevin Burnham (Wilton Manors/Coral Gables, Fla.), USA, 20-9-6-9-1-11-(DSQ)-4-(PMS)-1; 61. 470 WOMEN (22 boats) 1, Theresa Zabell/Begona Via Dufresne, ESP, 4-2-(11)-8-2-1-3-(10)-3-1; 24. 2, Yumiko Shige/Alicia Kinoshita, JPN, 3-7-(13)-6-1-3-2-(11)-1-6; 29. 3(t), Rusian Taran/Olena Pakholchik, UKR, 1-5-4-9-(12)-8-(18)-1-4-4; 36. 3(t), Kris Stookey/Louise Van Voorhis (Darien, Conn./Webster, N.Y.), USA, 2-8-2-1-4-12-(14)-2-(14)-5; 36. LASER (56 boats)--NO SCHEDULED RACING TODAY 1, Robert Scheidt, BRA, 2-(9)-3-6-1-3-(7)-2-1-1; 19. 2, Ben Ainslie, GBR, (27)-4-7-2-2-1-2-1-(16)-2; 21. 3, Peer Moberg, NOR, 1-7-9-1-9-(10)-1-(21)-3-5; 36. 15, Nick Adamson (Newport Beach, Calif.), USA, 9-(DSQ)-13-7-13-14-10-(DSQ)-27-14; 107. 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)--NO SCHEDULED RACING TODAY 1, Jochen Schuemann/Thomas Flach/Bernd Jaekel, GER, 5-5-2-4-1-(9)-(9)-6-2-9; 34. 2, Jeff Madrigali/Kent Massey/Jim Barton (San Anselmo/Santa Barbara/Fairfax, Calif.), USA, 1-4-9-2-5-(19)-5-9-1-(12); 36. 3, Andrew Beadsworth/Barry Parkin/Adrian George Stead, GBR, 7-1-8-7-4-1-6-(PMS)-12-(14); 46. 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