INEXPERIENCE and the elements conspired
to blow Singapore sailors off course
at the Beijing Olympics.
The Republic’s six sailors, five of
whom made their Games debut, competed
in four classes — the men’s and
women’s 470, men’s Laser Standard and
women’s Laser Radial — but none finished
in the top 10 of their respective events to
enter the medal sail-off.
SingaporeSailing president Low Teo
Ping summed up their performance as “good but not good enough”.
“The conditions at the Fushan Bay in
Qingdao were difficult with flukey winds
and choppy seas, which had overwhelmed
our sailors,” he told Today. “More time
should have been spent getting familiarised
with the sailing conditions there
despite our sailors having made six trips
over two years to the venue.
“It was an eye-opener for our sailors,
and SingaporeSailing’s management
needs to review its plans to level up its
training and preparations for future
Olympic campaigns.”
The 470s had to sail in 10 races, and
the Lasers in nine to determine the top 10
countries for the medal sail-off.
Singaporeans Xu Yuanzhen and Terence
Koh finished 22nd out of 29 in the
men’s 470; Toh Liying and Deborah Ong
were last out of 19 in the women’s 470; Lo
Man Yi was 25th out of 28 in the women’s
Laser Radial and Koh Seng Leong was 36th
out of 43 in the men’s Laser Standard.
Australia’s Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm
Page and Elise Rechichi and Tessa
Parkinson won the men’s and women’s
470 respectively. Briton Paul Goodison
took the Laser Standard gold, while American
Anna Tunnicliffe won the women’s
Laser Radial.
Between them, they only won three
races, but stayed consistent throughout,
noted Mark Robinson, SingaporeSailing’s
high performance chief.
SingaporeSailing’s target remains
a medal at London 2012, and to help
achieve that, they need between $10 million
and $12 million. They also intend to
compete in two more classes — the 49er
and windsurfing.
With an average age of 21, Singapore’s
Olympic sailing team have time on their
side. Said Robinson: “For example, multiple
world champion Wilmot spent a
decade sailing the 470 and just won his
first medal at his second Olympics.
“In sailing, most Olympic medallists are
in their late 20s to late 30s. The youthfulness
of the Singapore team augurs well in
their hunt for Olympic medals as they have
multiple Olympic cycles ahead of them."
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