Danes crowned 49er kings after dramatic day
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
QINGDAO, Aug 18 : It took Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen of Denmark 19 hours to wait for the final declaration of their 49er gold medal winners at Olympic Sailing Regatta here Monday.
Athens 49er medalists Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez of Spain took the silver medal and German brothers Jan-Peter Peckolt and Hannes Peckolt claimed the bronze medal.
The Danes crossed the finish line in 7th place in the double points medal race, enough for them to claim gold with 61 points overall, and then had to survive a protest lodged by the Race Committee against them using another competitor's boat.
The Danish team were protested by the Race Committee for sailing the medal race in a boat borrowed from the Croat crew, who were not competing in the medal race, after the mast on the Danish 49er snapped shortly before the start, according to the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
After a Jury hearing from Sunday afternoon till 00:50 Monday and then continued in the morning, John Doerr, chair of the Jury panel that heard the hearing, confirmed shortly before midday that the protest had been dismissed and the provisional results were made official.
"The Olympic Measurement Committee approved the replacement of the boat and found that it complied with class rules and all equipment inspections carried out in the Medal Race Quarantine Procedures," wrote the hearing document. "No penalty will be imposed, because no advantage was gained by Denmark."
"We're happy about how it turned out. Our mast broke 20 minutes before the competition and we thought we weren't going to make it. We were lucky in that we borrowed the Croatian's boat and got to the start line five seconds before the horn," said Jonas Warrer.
Iker Martinez from Spain said they were stuck in the jury room Sunday reading papers for hours. When the decision was made, the first thing that they said to the Danish team was congratulations.
"We were champions in Athens four years ago. We got silver today, it is still good for us. Not many in the world have two medals, so we are really happy about that," he said during the press conference after the awarding ceremony.
Athens 49er medalists Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez of Spain took the silver medal and German brothers Jan-Peter Peckolt and Hannes Peckolt claimed the bronze medal.
The Danes crossed the finish line in 7th place in the double points medal race, enough for them to claim gold with 61 points overall, and then had to survive a protest lodged by the Race Committee against them using another competitor's boat.
The Danish team were protested by the Race Committee for sailing the medal race in a boat borrowed from the Croat crew, who were not competing in the medal race, after the mast on the Danish 49er snapped shortly before the start, according to the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
After a Jury hearing from Sunday afternoon till 00:50 Monday and then continued in the morning, John Doerr, chair of the Jury panel that heard the hearing, confirmed shortly before midday that the protest had been dismissed and the provisional results were made official.
"The Olympic Measurement Committee approved the replacement of the boat and found that it complied with class rules and all equipment inspections carried out in the Medal Race Quarantine Procedures," wrote the hearing document. "No penalty will be imposed, because no advantage was gained by Denmark."
"We're happy about how it turned out. Our mast broke 20 minutes before the competition and we thought we weren't going to make it. We were lucky in that we borrowed the Croatian's boat and got to the start line five seconds before the horn," said Jonas Warrer.
Iker Martinez from Spain said they were stuck in the jury room Sunday reading papers for hours. When the decision was made, the first thing that they said to the Danish team was congratulations.
"We were champions in Athens four years ago. We got silver today, it is still good for us. Not many in the world have two medals, so we are really happy about that," he said during the press conference after the awarding ceremony.