Olympics

Gladwell's Line: Ashley on that Gold Medal Race - images and interview

The feature in this edition is a photo-essay-interview with Tom Ashley on Sail-World.com after he won the Gold medal in the Mens RS:X event in Qingdao last August. With the passing of time, many lapse into the view that the Gold medla was as good as being in the bag before the start of the Medal Race, however in this interview, along with our on the water perspective it was far from a done deal. Read interview

Tom Ashley Olympic Gold Medallist named Singapore Airlines New Zealand Sailor of the Year

Tom Ashley, a young man described as having one of the brightest minds in the sport, has been granted the title of Singapore Airlines New Zealand Sailor of the Year. The reigning World Champion board-sailor cemented his place in yachting history when he won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics this year, sailing a near perfect regatta and final medal winning race. The 24-year-old from Auckland’s North Shore is fluent in four languages and has been sailing since the age of eight. He has won six of the ten regattas entered since 2006 and his gold medal at Qingdao was the first for New Zealand sailing since 1992. Tom’s considerable success at grand prix level was also enough to earn him finalist status in the highly prestigious Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards, announced on 12 November in Madrid, Spain.

RS:X or Formula? ISAF Windsurfing Committee decides

The ISAF Windsurfing Committee decided this morning by a vote of 7 votes to 2 to support the selection of the RS:X as the equipment for the 2012 Olympic Regatta
Although this is a positive step forward, the final decision will be made by the ISAF Council at the end of this week. The vote against Formula is exactly the same as the vote made by the windsurfing committee at the 2000 ISAF Conference in Edinburgh. The windsurfing committee also decided that prize money in cash or in kind is permitted but may not be a requirement as per the ISAF contract in its Olympic contract.

Olympics 2012: RS:X or Formula?

At this weeks ISAF meeting amongst the agenda items is a proposal to switch windsurfing boards for the 2012 London Olympic Games from the existing Neil Pryde RS:X to a new Starboard built Formula board. While a lighter planing board would be welcomed by many athletes, it seems there are a lot of factors to consider.

Olympic RS:X Gold Medallist and World Champ Tom Ashley nominated for ISAF Sailor of the Year

ISAF and Rolex are proud to announce the Nominees for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2008. ISAF received nominations from across the world representing all aspects of the sport in two categories - male and female - and the following 10 nominations have been shortlisted. The qualifying period is the year up until 1 September 2008 and all achievements during this time are taken into consideration.

Olympic windsurfing OD board - the debate continues

Selection for 2012: An open letter to Starboard

Whilst I admire Svein’s zeal for promoting Olympic windsurfing, I have 16 years of experience in managing both IMCO and now the RS:X classes. This has lead me to the following conclusions

Olympic Sailing and the media - changes favoured Tom Ashley

In a report on sail-World.com, Richard Gladwell makes his feelings clear that the medal race concept must be due some refinement by ISAF. Before going onto slam ISAF again for dropping the Tornado from the 2012 Olympic Regatta line-up. However, he does make interesting points and they should be considered fully.

2008 Olympic Regatta: A few words from Neil Pryde

"I am a New Zealander and I have lived in Hong Kong for more than 45 years. The RS:X gold medals going to China and New Zealand gives me a tremendous feeling of pride and personal satisfaction from the NEILPRYDE involvement in Olympic Sailing, the pinnacle of the sport” said Mr. Neil Pryde following the medal race.

Tom Ashley's Gold

Tom Ashley won New Zealand’s third gold medal of the Olympics when he sewed up the men’s RS:X men’s sailing gold medal in Qingdao today. Sailing in the vital double-points medal race, Ashley was third, just good enough for him to hold on to first position with 52 points, one ahead of Frenchman Julien Bontemps after a thrilling contest. Third place went to Israel’s Shahar Zubari, who finished with 58 points. Except for a disaster in the 10th race, Ashley was the most consistent sailor of the regatta, recording finishing placings of 4-7-7-1-5-5-3-6-8-32-3. He was able to discard the 32 as a worst placing.

Tom Ashley wins Gold at Quingdao!!!!!

Television reports say Tom Ashley has just won the medal race to sail away with gold in a race that was the decider. Although placed 3rd going into the race the double points system meant that whoever won the race also won the gold medal. --------------------------------------------- Today in Qingdao, China, Tom Ashley has won a gold medal – the first Olympic sailing gold for New Zealand since 1992 when Barbara Kendall won windsurfing gold 16 years ago in Barcelona. Ashley secured the medal this afternoon after a grueling medal race where he fought it out with three rival windsurfers for a podium spot and an Olympic medal. With Julien Bontemps of France, Nick Dempsey of Great Britain and Tom Ashley all within one point of each other at the top of the standings, and Shahar Zubari of Israel a little further back but still in with a shot, today’s medal race was a grand finale of epic proportions.