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Tom Brown
Photo by ISAF |
ATHENS, Greece (September 23, 2004) – The final day of competition
in the Paralympic Regatta has seen the USA win medals in the two
Paralympic sailing events. Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor, Maine) sailed to
a silver medal in the 2.4 Metre class; and the Sonar team of John
Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, Calif.), Brad Johnson (Milwaukee,
Wis./Hollywood, Fla.) and J.P. Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.) captured
the bronze on the waters of the Saronic Gulf.
"It's just hard to believe that this is a reality right now,"
said Sonar skipper Ross-Duggan on receiving confirmation of his boat's
third-place overall finish. "We got exactly what we needed.
Everything just fell together."
With the USA and German Sonar teams tied for third overall entering the
final race of the nine-race series, Duggan, Johnson and Creignou needed
to either beat Germany or have them finish no higher than ninth place.
The second scenario was the one that played out as the Germans narrowly
edged the USA at the finish line for ninth place in the race.
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Sonar Medallists
Photo by ISAF |
"At the last second I counted the boats ahead of us and said 'oh my
god, they're ninth and we're tenth.' That's exactly what we needed to
beat them by a point," said Ross-Duggan. "I think the math
works out. It scared me to death when I saw the German team celebrating
as they went across the finish line. I thought they knew something we
didn't know."
The German celebration was premature as the USA discarded its
tenth-place finish for an overall score of 37 points to the German’s
38. The Israeli team of Dror Cohen, Arnon Efrati and Benni Vexler
dominated the Sonar fleet throughout most of the series to overcome a
disqualification from race two that had toppled them from their lead
position early in the regatta. They won four races of the series,
including today’s final race, and secured the gold medal on 19 points.
Udo Hessels, Marcel van de Veen and Mischa Rossen of The Netherlands
claimed the silver medal with 28 points.
Duggan adds the 2004 Paralympic Games bronze medal to the one he won in
1996 when sailing was introduced to the Paralympics as an exhibition
sport.
"This is by far the best team I have ever had," said
Ross-Duggan of Johnson and Creignou. "It is a privilege to sail
with them. They are both experts in their areas on the boat. They're
great sailors."
For 2.4 Metre sailor Tom Brown, the winds of fortune proved as fickle as
the breezes over the Saronic Gulf in determining his silver medal.
The Paralympic 2.4 Metre Bronze Medallist in Sydney, Brown entered today’s
final race tied with France's Damien Seguin for the fleet lead. But
after battling Sequin bow-to-bow to the second mark, Brown dropped to
10th place -- where he would eventually finish the race. Sequin went on
to finish third and claim the gold while Thierry Schmitter of The
Netherlands earned the bronze.
"I'm happy," said a disappointed but upbeat Brown following
the race. "Being so close you're all revved up and you’re right
there and have a shot to win it. I just feel bad that I didn't really
put it on today…I didn't give him a race."
Brown was the only repeat medallist in Athens: 2000 gold medallist Heiko
Kroeger (Germany) placed fourth and 2000 silver medallist Jens Als
Anderson (Denmark) placed sixth in the 16-boat 2.4 Metre fleet.
"I did move up a little bit (from bronze in 2000), so I don't feel
too bad about that," said Brown. "But moving up a little bit
every four years…that could take a long time."
Following today’s final races in both fleets, Brown, Ross-Duggan,
Johnson, Creignou and alternate Roger Cleworth (Brandon, Fla.) were
awarded their medals at the Agios Kosmas Sailing Centre.
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