XXVIII Olympic Games in Athens, Greece-Julie battles against unsteady winds |19 August 2004

AFTER bad had forced almost all sailing races at the Athens Olympic Games to be postponed on Monday, the sailing competition resumed on Tuesday and sailors got back to battling for medals.

Even so, the organisers had to delay the start of the Laser races by two hours and 40 minutes as wind condition was not favourable.

In tricky unsteady winds which continuously changed direction, race number three started at 3.40 p.m. (4.40 p.m. Seychelles time) and the sailors showed skills and patience to handle their boats in the unfavourable weather.

Emphasis was not so much on winning but staying at the top of the fleet as sailors encountered major shifts.

Seychellois Allan Julie managed to remain consistent in the race to finish eighth.
After the first mark, Julie was in eighth place and 52 seconds behind leader Augusto Nicolini of Peru.

The three-time Olympian gradually improved to sixth and fourth places after the second and third marks.

By the time he reached the fourth mark, Julie had picked up speed to round it in first place and by then, the time elapsed was 31 minutes 02 seconds.

Reigning world champion and Atlanta Olympics gold medallist Robert Scheidt of Brazil followed Julie in second place and overtook him before the fifth mark.

While Scheidt consolidated first place with a winning time of 1 hour 01 minute 39
seconds, Julie dropped to seventh and finally eighth at the end of the race. His time was 1 hour 02 minutes 32 seconds.

Second to Scheidt in race three was Croatian Mate Arapov (1h01:51), while Slovenian Vasilij Zbogar finished third (1h02:04). Early leader Nicolini of Peru was 16th.

Challenging course for Julie

In race number four, the wind was blowing below 10 knots and Julie, who likes to race in strong winds, got off to a bad start and the course was very challenging as he could not sail well.

It was a tricky day for Julie and the rest of the fleet. He went round the first and second marks in 29th position, improved to 26th after the third and fourth, but dropped to 34th after the fifth mark. He held 34th place until the finish, 5 minutes 12 seconds behind winner Diego Negri of Italy (53 minutes and 56 seconds) who took the lead after the second mark.

Argentine Diego Emilio Romero (54:51) and Brazilian Scheidt (55:21) were second and third respectively.

At the end of the fourth race and the second day of Laser sailing, Julie, who has said that he wants a top-15 finish in his third Olympics, was in 15th position with 73 points.
Julie, it is to note, was 14th and 17th in races one and two last Sunday.

"I'm not quite happy with my result in the fourth race as the wind was unsteady and weak. I'm happy though to have finished eighth in race three. I started well, but again the wind played a bad trick on me. Now that I can discard the 34th position, I have to sail very well to avoid another bad result which could affect my overall position," said Julie after having brought his boat ashore at the Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Centre.

Brazilian Scheidt, who said that he was "happy to be consistent on a day like this", led the standings with 15 points.

Belgian Philippe Bergmans was second with 32 points, followed in third place by Croatian mate Arapov with 41 points.

After the fifth race on Wednesday, sailors were to discard their worst result, giving a better picture in this class.

It is worth noting that a number of the pre-competition favourites were lingering behind at the end of the second day of racing Tuesday.

Austrian Andreas Geritzer, who was first after the first day, was seventh on Tuesday, Australian Michael Blackburn eighth, Englishman Paul Goodison ninth, Swedish Karl Suneson 10th, Portuguese 2003 world champion Gustavo Lima 11th, Italian Diego Negri 12th, South African Gareth Blanckenberg 19th and Frenchman Felix Pruvot 25th.

A total of 11 races will be raced in the Laser class with the best 10 to be counted.