Olympics 2008 Sailing : LASER CLASS RESULTS

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The results for the Laser Class for men & women were surprising. While Goodison had quite a tricky and stressful time winning Gold from the Men's category, amongst the women: Volungeviciute won silver but created Olympic history as the first Lithuanian sailor to win an Olympic medal!

Findout the medalists & their experiences... Results here

Laser Men: Paul Goodison of Great Britain clinched gold in the Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy) with a ninth finish in the medal race and an overall point total of 63, eight points ahead of Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia who finished second in the medal place to claim silver. Goodison, who finished fourth in Athens, added to Great Britain's impressive gold medal -- making it three gold so far for his NOC. Diego Romero of Italy, an early leader in the regatta, grabbed bronze with 75 points overall.

Goodison came into the medal race 18 points ahead of his nearest rival, so all he had to do was keep Rasmus Myrgren of Sweden from finishing first. The Briton sat on top of his Swedish adversary throughout the two lap windward/leeward course at the back end of the fleet.

"It was quite tricky and pretty stressful," Goodison admitted. "I waited to make sure that I got the gold at the end of the day -- and there was only way to guarantee it. Sweden knew it was coming too -- but I just had to do what I had to do."


Gold GOODISON Paul Great Britain
Silver ZBOGAR Vasilij Slovenia
Bronze ROMERO Diego Italy




Laser Radial Women: Anna Tunnicliffe of the United States staged a stunning and dramatic comeback to claim the Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy) gold medal from rising star Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania in light and shifty winds before a packed crowd on Tuesday afternoon. In the box seat going into today's race, Tunnicliffe, the World No.1 Laser Radial sailor, made a dive for the windward end of the crowded start line and, in doing so, crossed early and had to return and restart.

That created easy picking for Volungeviciute who finished with Silver and Xu Lijia of China who took bronze.

With the US sailor out of the back door, China took the early lead, but it was not long before the Lithuanian had the upper hand. Choosing the opposite side of the course to Xu, Volungeviciute led around the first windward mark. Although Xu stayed in close touch, she never caught her rival.

As the leaders reached the last mark of the course, Sarah Blanck of Australia, also in medal contention, caught a shift and made her way to third place, but she needed to pass Xu to win bronze. Then, out of ninth place appeared Tunnicliffe, who had gone to the left side of the course. She came through to finish the race in second place.


Volungeviciute may have missed gold, but she won the race, the silver and created Olympic history as the first Lithuanian sailor to win an Olympic medal. Because Xu stayed calm she kept Blanck at bay in fourth place, the same rank as in Athens.

Gold TUNNICLIFFE Anna United States
Silver VOLUNGEVICIUTE Gintare Lithuania
Bronze LIJIA Xu China