Europe class at Athens 2004 overall
by Andi Robertson 23 Aug 2004 08:23 BST
Siren Sundby wins the Europe class at the Athens 2004 Olympic regatta © Richard Langdon
In the end it took only a pleasant Sunday afternoon sail for Siren Sundby to secure her first gold medal, and Norway's first sailing medal since Atlanta in 1996 when Peer Moberg took bronze in the Laser class.
Needing only to finish in the top 21 of the 25 boat fleet did not represent a taxing afternoon's work for Sundby, but after a long delay and one failed attempt to run a Laser race - sailing on the same course area - which came to nought after the breeze faltered enough to mean the first leg was not completed within the time limit, the race officer got the 11th and final race away with only minutes to spare before the 1600hrs deadline expired.
Sundby needed to also keep the Czech Republic's Lenka Smidova on the same patch of water, and this she did with relative ease. Smidova rounded the first mark in 11th with Sundby virtually bow to bow with her.
The battle for bronze was between Denmark's Signe Livbjerg and Australia's Sarah Blanck. Having lead the regatta Blanck faltered on the Friday with a 12 and 8 when she needed to be posting top 5's. Her duel with the Dane was not a pretty one, nor was it especially dynamic. Livbjerg did what she needed to and just shepherded Blanck to the back of the field, ensuring that she finished lower than 13th, previously her discard. This ensured the Dane won bronze by just a single point over the 2002 World Champion.
"I am glad that there was a last race in the end." Smiled Siren, "I wanted to finish jumping in the water. I wanted to feel like I won finishing sailing a race. I had a nice race and sailed around the buoys with Lenka and always stay close to her, but it is fantastic to win."
"After my disqualification I had my 19th place and at that moment I thought it was going the wrong way. I was having a tough time. I didn't feel too well but then I went out and won three races in a row, and it was a great feeling and that was when I started to know that I could do it. All the other girls are really good sailors. Everybody wants to win the gold. The reason I am winning is just because I see myself in front of the others. That is probably why."
"I think that I have been training harder than the other girls. I like to use my body and it is fun to see myself ahead of the other girls."
"On a typical day I will get up and run and then have breakfast, then sail for three or four hours, then go home and work out in the gym maybe. I sail two weeks on and either one week or two weeks off and go home to Norway. I don't sail there because of the weather and there are not enough good
sailors there."
"I think a lot of the other favourites did not do so well here because they needed more wind."
Sundby is undecided what she will do next. She has mentioned sailing a 470 but needs to find a good crew, and if she does not she will continue in the Europe. Certainly she says, she will not sail the Yngling because it is 'too slow'.