MENS 470 ATLANTA'S GOLD MEDALISTS IN TROUBLE

by Isabelle Musy on 22 Sep 2000 It was a black Thursday for Braslavets and Matviyenko, Atlanta gold winners
in the men's 470 class! The Ukrainian boys got penalised in heat 3 for
premature start and got disqualified from heat 4 after protest hearings.

The international jury decision came after three crews had protested against
them. The Americans, the French and the Greek claimed that Braslavets and
Matviyenko had hit a mark after not giving right to the US boat.

60 points on the same day does harm a lot and might have killed the
Ukrainian's medal dream as it will be very difficult for them to come back
to the top of this most competitive 29 nation fleet.

As they will sail on course D today, the men's 470 competitors will have to
deal with the trickiest conditions Sydney Harbour can offer.

Therefore, the game remains wide open and it will be interesting to see
whether the Portuguese will manage to keep consistency, if the young British
boys will impress again after their brilliant victory in yesterday's race 4.

What will be today's performance of the other medal prospects such as the
Australians, the Americans, the French and the Greek?

Another important thing to keep an eye on will be the rule that forbids
pumping below 12 knots, as three crews have already been warned by the
umpires.

Which means that they'll have to be very cautious not to be disqualified or even worse forced to withdraw from the regatta if they're caught doing it again.

In a word, some exciting action is bound to happen out there on the water.