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Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark made good on their bid to earn gold for Team Great Britain after the 470 women's sailing race at the 2016 Rio Olympics on Thursday. The British pair actually finished eighth in the final race, but they took gold due to their lead accrued during previous events.
Later, world No. 1 pair Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic took gold for Croatia in the men's 470, an eventful race that saw Australia and Greece wage a fierce battle for silver that ultimately saw the former rewarded.
For Fantela and Marenic, there was the added distinction of ensuring their nation's first gold in this event.
Then, it was the turn of illustrious New Zealand duo Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to officially seal the gold medal that was already firmly in their grasp ahead of the men's 49er-class race.
Finally, world No. 1 duo Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze claimed gold for host nation Brazil in the women's 49er FX event, after the medal race went right down to the line, with the winners just edging New Zealand.
Here are the results and medal winners after Thursday's races:
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 470 Women's Medal Race | Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills (GBR) | Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) | Helene Defrance and Camille Lecointre (FRA) |
| 470 Men's Medal Race | Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) | Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) | Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) |
| 49er Men's Medal Race | Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) | Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) | Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel (GER) |
| 49er FX Women's Medal Race | Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) | Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) | Jena Hansen and Katja Steen Salskov-Iversen (DEN) |
| Race | First | Second | Third |
| 470 Women's Medal Race | Tina Mrak and Veronika Macarol (SLO) | Afrodite Zegers and Anneloes van Veen (NED) | Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) |
| 470 Men's Medal Race | Yannick Brauchli and Romuald Hausser (SUI) | Stuart McNay and Dave Hughes (USA) | Luke Patience and Chris Grube (GBR) |
| 49er Men's Medal Race | Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) | Julien D'Ortoli and Noe Delpech (FRA) | Jonas Warrer and Christian Peter Lubeck (SUI) |
| 49er FX Women's Medal Race | Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) | Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) | Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich (ITA) |
With medal hopefuls already in strong positions, it wasn't a day to worry about where they finished in the race itself but rather to stay focused on how close they stayed to one another. So the individual rivalries proved to be fascinating viewing.
In particular, Australia, Croatia and Greece tried several strategies to at least hold, or preferably improve, their medal positions in the men's 470.
As a result, the Australians were under pressure late on, with their crew work becoming sloppy as Sweden pushed for more than fourth. Australia's focus on the Swedes gave Croatia the lead in the race for gold, while Greece were forced to go around the left side.
Australia regained the initiative for silver, as crew Will Ryan kept the rig bouncing from the trapeze, but a near fall from him soon let Greece steal a march. Meanwhile, Croatia maintained a steady pace with the gold almost in the bag as the final lap gave way to the short finish.
It was already clear Fantela and Marenic could just leave the Australian and Greek teams to do battle and decide the destination of silver and bronze. Instead, the Croatian sailors were able to comfortably cross the line to officially mark their moment of history, per World Sailing:
Team GB got its second sailing gold moments earlier when Mills and Clark were confirmed as overall winners of the women's event. That meant New Zealand's Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie settled for silver, a reversal of fortunes for both teams compared to the 2012 London Olympics, per Helen Pidd of the Guardian.
BBC Sport's Juliette Ferrington and BBC 5 live Sport relayed some reaction from the new gold winners:
The destination of gold was all but known ahead of the final race in the men's 49er-class event. New Zealand pair Burling and Tuke had virtually guaranteed the top prize.
Yet, the race for silver was a congested one, with Germany, Australia and Great Britain all with legitimate hopes. Still, it was Burling and Tuke who were the first to round the top of the course at the initial mark. Even without the obvious incentive to win, Burling and Tuke controlled the race throughout.
Further behind, Team GB had battled back by the third mark, with Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Alain Sign making a strong push to regain ground in the medal picture. Disaster soon struck, though, when their vessel suffered a capsize under pressure from Poland. The setback ultimately condemned the British pair to sixth place.
In the silver-medal race, Germany tried to force the issue by pushing their boat to a jibe at the fifth mark. However, Australia held firm to make certain of silver for the deposed Olympic champions.
The main issue at stake in the women's 49er FX race was the distinction of being the most successful nation at these Games. Team GB's bid was dented when Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth hit the committee boat early on.
So New Zealand's Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were able to take advantage, and they trailed Italy after rounding the top of the course after the first mark. Meanwhile, things got worse for Dobson and Ainsworth when they capsized ahead of the final two laps.
Then, it was Maloney and Meech battling Brazil's Grael and Kunze for gold, while Spain and Denmark vied for bronze. Brazil and New Zealand traded jibes in a drag race, with the former in the lead, eventually taking gold by a slender margin.
Dorian van Rijsselberghe of the Netherlands further cemented his gold medal in the men's windsurfing final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday after triumphing in the RS:X, despite having sealed his medal days ago.
Likewise, Great Britain's Nick Dempsey was already assured of silver despite a fourth-place finish on Sunday. But Frenchman Pierre Le Coq's run was sufficient to join that pair and take his spot on the podium with bronze.
Sunday's sailing action was delayed because of adverse weather conditions, but it was little more than a speed bump on Van Rijsselberghe's route to success—having won seven races prior to Sunday—with the gold result predetermined coming into the race.
Dempsey finished second to Van Rijsselberghe for the second Summer Games in succession, but the official Team GB Twitter account pointed out the 36-year-old nevertheless had reason to celebrate:
Charline Picon went one better than compatriot Le Coq and emerged as gold-medal victor in the women's race, while Peina Chen of China took silver and Stefaniya Elfutina claimed bronze on behalf of Russia.
Finnish sailor-turned-member of parliament Sari Multala was left in awe of Picon's performance:
Great Britain's Dempsey got off to a terrific start in the final, taking pole position after managing to work his way to the inside corner of the start at Marina da Gloria in Rio
However, Dutchman Van Rijsselberghe quickly caught a trail of wind and blew his way into a commanding lead, pumping his way seconds clear of the pack despite having already bagged the top prize.
That show of dedication to the craft signified Van Rijsselberghe's desire to bow out on a high with gold in tow, and that plan of attack paid dividends as he streaked clear of Dempsey and Co.
Le Coq finished fourth behind Poland's Piotr Myszka on Sunday, but the Frenchman's displays over the past week were enough to net him a medal, and World Sailing showed he was content with his achievement:
The third-place gong was the only medal not decided coming into Sunday's showdown at Marina da Gloria, and Le Coq edged Greece's Vyron Kokkalanis to line up alongside Van Rijsselberghe and Dempsey on the podium.
The women's race had a lot more tension to it considering none of the medals were decided beforehand. Picon pounced on the opportunity, as her second-place finish was enough to clinch gold overall.
Following Van Rijsselberghe's earlier win in the men's race, Netherlands star Lilian de Geus followed suit and took first in Sunday's race, although it wasn't enough to get her a place on the podium.
A third-place run for Chen was enough for her to steal in for the silver, 10 points adrift of Picon overall, while Elfutina stole in front of De Geus to round out the top three.
The Coast Guard suspended its search for former U.S. Olympic sailor Trevor Moore on Saturday after the 30-year-old's 16-foot 49er dinghy was found unmanned in Dinner Key, Miami, two days prior.
Moore was reported missing after his belongings were found in the inflatable boat last Thursday, according to Evan Bleier of the Daily Mail, who added family and friends of the London 2012 competitor were still raising money for a volunteers' search.
Moore served as a member of the United States sailing team between 2009 and 2012. He had plans to compete for a place at the 2016 Summer Olympics before a shoulder injury curtailed his preparations.
The Coast Guard's decision to suspend the search suggests it has little hope in finding Moore. The official Twitter account of the U.S. Olympic Team tweeted its condolences for the missing sailor:
Since the 2015 Team USA sailing squad made an initial $1,000 donation, a GoFundMe page set up in the hopes of finding Moore has leaped closer to reaching its $50,000 target.
Bleier's report goes on to quote Coast Guard Captain Michael Long as saying, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones affected. Despite the tireless search efforts by multiple agencies and good Samaritans, we were unable to find Mr. Moore."
Despite the authorities putting an end to their official search, Moore's ex-teammates and family members, including fiancee Libby Patton, continue their efforts to find the former Olympian.
We’ve been looking for Jimmy Hoffa for decades, but investigators might want to check out the trash-strewn waters of Guanabara Bay before giving up the ghost.
Forming a picturesque pocket of blue on the Rio de Janeiro coastline, the cul-de-sac of water off the Atlantic Ocean appears, at first, to be the ideal spot for the upcoming sailing regattas at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Closer inspection, however, reveals a body of water piled with islands of trash. According to Rachel Glickhouse of GlobalPost (h/t Troy Machir of Sporting News) 40 percent of the city’s sewage is actually treated, while the rest of the liquid garbage ends up in lagoons, beaches and the bay area.
Even worse, somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 to 100 tons of trash is dumped into Guanabara Bay every day. You read that correctly—tons: the last weight increment you ever want associated with offshore trash dumping.
Mario Moscatelli, a biologist who’s spent decades monitoring the sewage problem in Rio de Janeiro, calls the water “a real latrine”—a label you don’t want slapped on the body of water Olympic athletes will be using in a few short years.
The most chilling allegations of the water quality in Guanabara Bay don’t even involve trash, though. Brazilian sailing champ Lars Grael told Esporte Essencial he’s encountered human bodies floating lifelessly while training in the bay.
Grael’s words on the pollution in the bay (translated from Portuguese):
[Guanabara Bay] has a very bad quality of water. It’s a postcard ugly…you can create screens to prevent the trash from the Olympic streak…but still, looking at the quality of the water! In Guanabara Bay I’ve ever come across four times with corpses…Imagine that…a scene in the Olympics! God grant this does not happen.
Glickhouse writes that the problem of sanitation remains a non-issue in the eyes of the Rio de Janeiro’s politicians.
Those involved with the sanitation problem in Rio say it’s an ‘invisible’ problem that doesn’t carry political capital, making it less of a government priority. In April, the state government announced that it was cutting its 2016 Olympics budget for bay clean-up by 95 percent, reducing spending from over $1 billion to around $51 million…The budget excludes sewage treatment centers.
I’m not sure what’s “invisible” about floating trash masses the size of Tahitian islands, but it would appear as long as there isn’t a detached finger bobbing in your glass, things are clean enough in Rio de Janeiro.
Hopefully this news will spur the International Olympic Committee to demand that Brazil do something—anything—to clean the water up between now and 2016.
I don’t believe it’s too much to ask for world’s top nautical athletes to compete in corpse-free maritime conditions. They can give us that much, right?
You can’t just skim the pool and call it a day, Brazil.
Georgie Thompson and Sir Ben Ainslie are romantically involved, according to multiple reports.
Olympic gold medallist sailor Ainslie, 36, just helped the U.S team win the America's Cup, while Thompson, also 36, now works in the United States for Fox Sports after a decade with Sky Sports in the UK.
According to Neil Sears of the Daily Mail, the pair have been dating since April this year but have known each other for three years. Per the report, Thompson says:
We met through friends at an event – and I don't really know how to describe it.
It was a bit of a thunderbolt moment but a thunderbolt that took years before it became anything real. We were in different places but then in April the stars aligned and it made sense to be together, and we haven’t looked back since. It’s very special – he makes me very happy.
The Daily Echo reports that both Ainslie and Thompson previously had relationships with people from their own fields.
Sailor Ainslie dated fellow Olympian Marit Bouwmeester, while Thompson, who has presented a range of shows on British television, once dated popular TV host Declan Donnelly—one half of duo Ant and Dec.
Per the Daily Mail report, Thompson was optimistic that the pair would have more time together after Ainslie's run in the America's Cup. That said, Ainslie resides in Lymington in the south of England, while Thompson is now based across the pond.
Ainslie is also set to be awarded the Freedom of Lymington and Pennington later this month.
