Final Report

The Greek Olympic gold medallist in Atlanta finished eighth and fifth in the first two races of the series at this year's Regatta. From that point on, however, he took matters into his own hands and began winning one race after another.

In the third race of the series he had been practically certain to win as he was leading, but had the misfortune to collide with the Swiss athlete Anja KAESER, with the ensuing familiar results. He abandoned the race and went to the Swiss woman's rescue, was considered responsible for the collision, and was penalised with disqualification.

From that point on he did not leave any room for doubt regarding his superiority, winning first place in the four further races, and finishing fourth in yesterday's final race of the series.

He won the gold medal despite being tied for first place with Israeli Gal FRIEDMAN, who yesterday came first. Nevertheless, the Greek champion was ranked first as he had five first places as against only one for his Israeli opponent.

Portugal's Joao RODRIGUES was runner-up and Piotr MYSZLKA from Poland was third, while Chinese Zhou YUANQUO , who was in third place with 33 points after the race 8 in the series and was still a contender for the gold, yesterday sailed his worst race of the series, finishing in 16 place, though he won the bronze medal in the end.

Windsurfer Women - Mistral

Italian Olympic champion in Sydney Alessandra SENSINI yesterday gave her worst performance in the women's Mistral class in this Regatta, coming sixth in the ninth race of the series, but in no danger of losing the gold as her placement still gave her more than enough points to win. Lee LAI-SHAN from Hong Kong came second in the final race and secured the silver medal, as France's Faustine MERRET who had come threateningly close, finished seventh. The winner of yesterday's race was New Zealander Barbara KENDAL, while Jian YIN from China finished third. Greek champion Athina (Tonia) FREY finished in 15 place and was ranked tenth overall with 76 points.

Single-handed Dinghy - Open

In the Laser class, the winner of the gold medal remained a toss-up to the very end as the athletes who were tied in first place until the final day, Brazilian Olympic silver medallist Robert SCHEIDT and Swede Daniel BIRGMARK, yesterday gave the 'mother of all battles'. The race ended in victory for the Brazilian, who finished fifth in race 11 while the Swede finished eighth and had to make do with the silver. The bronze medal was won by Croat ARAPOV who missed an opportunity for a better score as before today's race he was only six points away from the top. Grabowski from Poland won the eleventh race in the series, followed by Roope SYOMALAINEN from Finland.

High Performance Dinghy Open - 49er

The Australian crew of Chris NICHOLSON and Gary BOYD won the gold medal in the 49er class, as they finished in fourth place in the final race (16th) and led the score with a difference of 13 points from Paul BROTHERTON and Mark ASQUITH, who finished third finished third,.

The Italian craft with the Sibelo brothers won the final race - this gaining them the bronze medal. After the end of the race the Norwegian crew lodged a protest, claiming that the Italians had collided with their craft during the competition. If the judgement goes in favour of the Norwegians the Italians will lose the bronze medal, which will then go to the Spanish crew, which finished in 10th place today. Greek Thanasis Pachoumas and Vasilis Portosalte finished in 16th place in today's race and took 13th place in the general ranking with 147 penalty points.

Single-handed Dinghy Women - Europe

There was no change at the top after yesterday's eleventh and final race in the Europe class series as Siren SUNDBY (NOR), Min DEZILLEI (Belgium) and Sarah MACKY (NZL), maintained their positions in the general ranking to win the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively. Petra NIEMANN from Germany finished first in yesterday's race, with Czech Lenka SMIDOVA second and Sundby third..

Multihull Open - Tornado:

In the Tornado class, Australians Darren BUNDOCK and John FORBES took third place in the final race in the series, which was all they needed to win the gold medal. Austrian Olympic gold medallists in Sydney and winners in last year's Regatta, Roman HAGARA and Hans Peter STEINACHER, finished first in the last race, but had to settle for the silver medal. The bronze medal was won by Argentinians Santiago Raul LANGE and Carlos Mauricio ESPINOLA.

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Windsurfer Men - Mistral

Windsurfer Women - Mistral

Single-handed Dinghy Men - Laser

High-performance Dinghy Open - 49er

Single-handed Dinghy Women - Europe

Multihull Open - Tornado