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Olympic Regatta: Foerster/Burnham Assured Silver, Will Fight for Gold

ATHENS, GREECE (August 19, 2004) – Today’s two races in the 470 Men’s class determined that the USA’s team of Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas) and Kevin Burnham (Miami, Fla.) will win at least a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Regatta. The duel for gold between Foerster/Burnham and Great Britain’s Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, which the USA decisively toppled today from its top spot on the scoreboard, will take place Saturday, August 21. There are only two points that separate the two teams and both are untouchable by Sweden and Japan, which are tied for bronze.

Oddly enough, Foerster and Burnham sailed their throwout today, an 18th in race one, but followed it up with a fourth, while Great Britain turned in race finishes of 10-19, the latter of which they, too, took as a discard in their score line.

"We finally had a good start," said Foerster, a two-time Olympic Silver Medallist (470 Men in 2000, Flying Dutchman in 1992) about today’s second race. "We were ahead of the Brits there. Going up the beat we had a spot where it was a life or death situation and we were able to eek through, get the next shift and round in a decent spot. On the next beat, Kevin hit the shift and we picked off four more boats. That was great."

"In the first race there was a 30 degree shift to the left that just never came back," said Burnham, who at 47 is the oldest member on the U.S. sailing squad and won a 470 Men’s Olympic silver medal in 1992. "We waited and waited and pretty soon we were running out of race track." Foerster added that they’d been playing the middle because "all of our practice here has said it doesn’t pay to go to the corners."

On Saturday, the key to gold for Foerster and Burnham will not be winning the race over the 27 boats competing, but rather finishing no worse than two boats behind the British no matter where they are on the course. "It will be a good thing to watch," said Burnham, "and it will show Paul’s ability to match race, which most people don’t know about."

As Burnham watched the Greek 470 Women’s team sail into the harbor to a cacophony of boat horns and flag waving (they had just clinched the gold), he was asked if the spectacle motivated him for the finals. "I don’t need any extra motivation," laughed Burnham, "Paul and I both have silver medals. We want gold!"

By an impressive margin, the USA’s 470 Women’s representatives Katie McDowell (Barrington, R.I.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.) won their second race of today after an eighth in race one to make huge gains on the scoreboard. They are in sixth overall, with one race to go on Saturday.

"There is no day like any other day here," said Kinsolving, who said her team made a solid comeback in the first race and had great upwind and downwind speed in the second. "It’s really exciting sailing against the best competitors in the world and at moments being the best in the world yourself. Saturday, we’re going out to win the last race."

The Finn and Ynglings also will have their medal rounds on Saturday, but the Yngling gold already has been claimed by Great Britain’s Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton. The USA’s team of Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Nancy Haberland (Annapolis, Md.) have a shot at sixth after moving themselves up to eighth today from 12th yesterday. Today they finished seventh in the first race and won the second. "We climbed up big; I just wish we would have started that climb sooner," said Cronin.

After ten races in the Finn class, USA’s Kevin Hall (Bowie, Md./Ventura, Calif.) is in 14th place. He finished ninth and 17th today to climb up one position on the scoreboard from yesterday.

Europe and Lasers are well into their 11-race series now with two races held today for each class. Meg Gaillard (Jamestown, R.I./Pelham, N.Y.) fell to 11th today after finishing 11th in the first race and sailing her throwout, a 16th, in the second.  Laser sailor Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.) had a disappointing day, falling from fifth to 10th after posting a throwout 29th and a 22nd. Both classes have three more races to sail.

Two ninth-place finishes helped 49er sailors Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.) improve their overall position from 13th yesterday to eighth today. With six of 16 scheduled races under their belts, they were allowed the first of two throwouts, which meant the 20 points from a premature start yesterday were eliminated from their point total.

In Mistral Men, a single race today brought Peter Wells (La Canada/Newport Beach, Calif.) up one notch on the scoreboard to 24th with seven races to go, while in the women’s division Lanee Butler Beashel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) fell two spots to 18th overall after two races. Wells finished 24th today. Beashel posted finishes of 18-17. The 18th she uses as a throwout after five races.

What’s Next – For tomorrow, Friday, August 20, racing continues for Europe, Laser and 49ers. The Mistral class will use what was originally scheduled as a reserve day to catch up by two races in men’s division and one in women’s. Saturday, August 21, will feature the medal rounds for 470 (men and women), Finn and Yngling classes, while Tornado and Star classes kick off their series. As well, the Mistral (men and women) class will sail again, while Europe, Laser and 49ers observe reserve days.

Additional background information on the events, and the U.S. athletes, is available online at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicGames/2004/

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Current Standings of U.S. Sailors: (for full results http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004/)