Today's Sailing News 

 Olympic Sailing Day 12

Day 12 saw the 470 classes conclude their regatta.  This leaves 5 classes to still award medals.

Weather: N/NW winds of 15 to 20 knots are forecast.  Late in the day a front is supposed to come through and switch the winds to SW.  As for most of the regatta the weather outlook is not certain or simple.

470 Women

Course: B

For both 470 fleets it was the last race and medal time.

The Australian Women's team of Thompson and Stowell won race 11, in the
process adding to their 1st place standing.  Name of the Gold Medal winning 470: Ugly Duckling. The American team of Isler
and Glaser finished 6th which put them 1 point ahead of Ukraine for the 
Silver medal. Ukraine's final race 3rd gave them the bronze medal.

470 Men

Course: B

Both fleets were close
enough that Race 11 would be a determining factor in the medal order.

Going into Race 11 the USA still had gold medal hopes. Their best
scenario was to beat Australia by 5 points and win the gold on a 
tiebreaker. Well, they won race 11, but Australia refused to cooperate
finishing 2nd. This gave Australia the Gold medal by 4 points over the
USA. Argentina was the bronze medallists 15 points back of the USA.

Despie Australia's sailing heritage this is their first Olympic Sailing Gold medal since 1972.

Europe 

Course: C

The Europe's had a course of their own for races 8&9. The days racing
served to lengthen the gaps at the top of the fleet.

Race 1 was won by Argentina, with Czechoslovakia 2nd and Spain 3rd. Of 
these boats, Argentina and Spain are medal contenders.

Race 2 saw the Netherlands 1st, Great Britain 2nd and Australia putting
on a good show in 3rd.

Overall Great Britain's Shirley Robertson has sailed consistently and opened
an 11 point lead over Argentina's Serena Amato.  For the day Robertson had a seemingly unspectacular 9th and 2nd.  Think again, as this was the best day in the class. The Netherlands's Margiret
Matthysse takes 3rd on a tiebreaker over Spain.

Current world champion Kristine Roug of Denmark had a bad day with finishes
of OCS and 16th. She's 9 points behind th3 3rd place tie.

2 races remain for this class.  The Gold and Silver seem fairly certain with at least a two way tussle for bronze.

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 Today's Sailing News 

Day 12  saw only one match race for the Soling's.  This was the one race sail off between New Zealand and Netherlands for a semi final berth.

Netherlands's used a fake tack on the first beat to gain a 2 boat length lead at the initial wind ward mark.  Despite superior off wind speed, New Zealand could not come back.  

This finalizes the semi final pairings:  Germany/Netherlands and Denmark/Norway.

Laser

Course: D

The Lasers sailed sailed 2 races on Course D.

The USA's John Myrdal was the sailor of the day with a win in the first race and a 2nd in the final race of they day.  He's up to 8th, but a full 30 points out of bronze medal position.

The gold medal is going to be between Great Britain's Ben Ainslie and Brazil's Robert Scheidt.  Today it was Scheidt gaining with a 5th and a 1st to Ainslie's 11th and 5th.  Ainslie's lead with 2 races remaining is 4 points.  3rd is Australia with 62 points 12 ahead of 4th place Portugal.

With 2 races to be sailed the gold is up for grabs.

Finn

Course: E

It was 2 races on the ocean for the single handed Finn's.

In this class another British single handed is leading.  Ian Percy won the day's 2nd race and is 8 points in the lead.  Sweden's Fredrik Loof is 2nd.  3rd is Italian Luca Devoti who had the class' best day with a 2nd and a 3rd.

Defending Gold Medallist Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland has fallen to 5th.

American Russ Silvestri had 2 double digit finishes and is now 9th.

4 races remain for the Finns.  Percy has been consistent and looks to have a formidable shot for Gold medal.

Star

Course: E

The defending gold medallists from Brazil continue to lead the talented Star fleet.  Despite a day of no top 3 finishes, Brazil still leads by 4 points.  Now second is Great Britain with finishes of 2nd and 3rd- the best of the day in the class.  Australia is 3rd.

They are followed by Bermuda, Spain and the USA which won the days 2nd race.

The USA is 7 points from Bronze medal position.  This is by no means too far behind.  For instance, in winning the second race the USA gained exactly 7 points on Australia which was 8th.

With world class teams like Bermuda posting scores of 1st and 12th, any team is capable of big moves up and down the fleet.  With 4 races remaining it's all still in play.