Issue date
As Andrew Murdoch rounded off his 2012 Olympic Sailing campaign with a fifth place final standing, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have made certain that they will be awarded a medal later this week.
First up in the early afternoon, Andrew sailed to a fourth place finish in the final race in front of a big crowd of Kiwi spectators on shore.
“I really appreciate the support I’ve got from everybody back in New Zealand and all the people up on the hill today” Andrew said after returning to shore.
Sailing in shifty conditions close to the shore and in wind speeds of up to 20kn, Andrew wasn’t able to improve his overall standing and this has left him eager to come back to try again in four years time.
“It was about as good as today could have gone. I came here aiming for a medal and put a lot of work into that” he said. “I certainly have a few more years in me yet, and will be looking to win New Zealand a medal in Rio.”
The 49er fleet have completed the fifteen races of their opening series, and based on the point distribution, they look to be a certainty for a silver medal but the racing is not yet over for them.
Yachting New Zealand’s High Performance Manager and coach of 49er sailors Peter and Blair, Jez Fanstone explained the situation: “As long as they sail sensibly, they’ll be coming home with a silver medal which is a real is testament to all the hard work they’ve done over the last three years”
“They’ve executed very well here. It’s a fantastic result for them and well deserved, we’ll look forward to the medal race.”
Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders also sailed well today and had another couple of top ten finishes, crossing the line in seventh and ninth. They are just one point off third, but have two more races left before the final double point medal race for the top ten competitors on Thursday.
Four of New Zealand’s nine Olympic sailing crews are left to finish their regatta.
Tomorrow will see JP Tobin race in the RS:X Men’s board sailing medal race, two more races for the 470 women’s pair of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, and the final two opening series races for the 470 men.
Current Standings- Day 9 – August 6th, 2012
2nd Peter Burling/Blair Tuke (49er) after 15 of 16 races (9, 7, 1, 7, 3, 5, 9, 11, 7, 2, 1, 2, 15, 6, 6)
2nd Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (470 W) after 6 of 11 races (2, 6, 2, 5, 10, 4)
5th Paul Snow Hansen/ Jason Saunders (470 M) after 8 of 11 races (28DSQ, 3, 5, 4, 16, 3, 7, 9)
7th JP Tobin (RS:X) after 10 of 11 races (15, 4, 3, 7, 8, 8, 12, 6, 17, 17)
Final Standings
5th Andrew Murdoch (Laser)
5th Hamish Pepper/ Jim Turner (Star)
7th Dan Slater (Finn)
9th Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt (Match Racing)
20th Sara Winther (Laser Radial)
Full Results can be found online the Official Event Website
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Quotes from: Peter Burling, Jez Fanstone, Andrew Murdoch
Audio Interview: Peter Burling, Jez Fanstone, Andrew Murdoch
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