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Thursday, September 28
Dramatic comeback pays off for Isler
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- J.J. Isler's Olympic medal hopes went
from zero to silver in a few puffs of Sydney Harbor's fickle wind.
With a brisk nor'easter raking the harbor, Isler, of San Diego,
made a dramatic comeback on the final leg to win the women's 470
silver medal Thursday along with crew Pease
Glaser of Long Beach, Calif.
|  | | U.S. skipper Paul Foerster, center, and crew member Robert Merrick, left, congratulate the gold medalists from Australia. |
A little more than an hour later on the same course, Paul
Foerster of Rockwall, Texas, and his crew, Bob Merrick of
Portsmouth, R.I., took the men's 470 silver by winning the final
fleet race, leading at every mark.
Australia won both 470 gold medals, its first in sailing since
1972. The Aussie crews were saluted with horn blasts from the huge
spectator fleet and passing ferries, with the Sydney Opera House
and the Harbor Bridge -- with its big Olympic rings -- in the
distance.
Isler made the move of the day in the women's race.
In 10th place and out of the medals at the top mark, Isler
sailed close to Bradley's Head and passed four boats on the
spinnaker run to the finish. She finished sixth, enough to beat
Ukraine by one point for the silver. Ukraine finished third in the
race.
Isler said she was passed by the Greek and Dutch boats as they
took advantage of wind shifts close to Bradley's Head on the second
downwind leg. So, with one shot left, she tried it sailing downwind
the final time and began closing the gap.
"Out of the corner of my eye I was counting boats between us
and the Ukrainian boat and realizing, 'Ooh, this looks pretty
good,' " Isler said.
Isler knows she probably surprised some other skippers.
"I surprised myself, too," she said.
"Nobody said anything in the boat for like 10 boat lengths,"
Glaser said. "And J.J. goes, 'We're passing the Israelis,' really
calmly. And that was it. We got by them and that gave us enough
points to beat the Ukraines."
The women's 470 gold went to Jenny Armstrong and Belinda
Stowell, who ran away with the final race and the regatta. The
men's gold went to Tom King and Mark Turnbull, the reigning world
champions.
Isler and Foerster became repeat Olympic medalists, giving the
United States three sailing medals in these games. Americans won
just two bronze medals in an embarrassing performance in home
waters in 1996.
Brothers Jonathan and Charlie McKee of Seattle won the 49er
bronze medal in Sydney.
Isler, 36, took the 470 bronze in 1992. Glaser, 38, of Long
Beach, Calif., was in her first Olympics and matched the silver
medal won by her husband, Jay, in the Tornado class in 1984. Glaser
had tried and failed to make the Olympic team three previous times.
Isler and Glaser were unsure of their chances coming into the
games, because they lost training time after Isler became pregnant
with her second daughter. But they also figured that their
experience would be a factor.
"There were definitely teams out there that were faster than
us, but we were really good at the racing thing," Glaser said.
Foerster entered the race in second place and needed to win and
have the Aussies finish sixth or worse in order to win the gold.
Foerster did his part by pinching off the Aussies at the start
and forcing them to tack off. The Australians were toward the back
of the 29-boat fleet at the first mark, but made a stunning
comeback sailing into the wind for the second time and were third
rounding the mark, behind Foerster and the Ukraine crew.
"It was pretty exciting when we were ahead, but we knew how
fast they were downwind," Foerster said of the Australians. "We
knew it would take a pretty amazing race to keep them from winning
the gold."
King and Turnbull finished second in the race, beating Foerster
and Merrick by four points in the standings.
Foerster, 36, of Rockwall, Texas, won the Flying Dutchman silver
medal in 1992, then saw the class knocked out of the Olympic
lineup. He sat out the 1996 Games, then switched to the 470.
He trained intensely with Merrick, 29, and was the world's
top-ranked 470 skipper coming in.
"We were fortunate to sail a really good regatta, and even to
have a chance to win the gold medal on the last day, you can't ask
for anything more than that," Foerster said.
The deciding races had been scheduled for Wednesday, but the
wind died to practically nothing. Thursday was a more typical
Sydney Harbor day, with the wind hitting 15 to 17 knots.
Other courses had spotty wind and didn't get in as many races as
hoped.
Star skipper Mark Reynolds of San Diego improved to sixth after
winning the seventh fleet race. Laser skipper John Myrdal of
Kailua, Hawaii, had finishes of 1-2 and was eighth after nine
races. Finn skipper Russ Silvesrtri of Tiburon, Calif., was 18th
and fell to ninth after seven races, and Courtenay Becker Dey of
The Dalles, Ore., is 16th in the Europe class after finishing 13th.
Each class is scheduled to sail 11 races.
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ALSO SEE
Wild weather, and then no wind, postpones sailing events
Foerster's successful switch could net a sailing medal
Clutch 49er race gives McKee brothers bronze
U.S. Soling skipper eliminated
Finland pair sails to golden heights
American Foerster takes lead after six races
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