First gold: SofiBekatorou and AimiliTsoulfa
The boat lies upside down, the two soaking wet sailors stand on it and rake their arms up. Gold: applause in the marina, the television commentator rolls over. Gold in sailing, even before the last race.
After their voluntary bath, they are dragged by their team boat in a rushing ride across the Saronic Gulf, a Greek flag rattles on the leech, a bunch of coach and jury boats digs white foam strips into the blue water and draws the Greek national into the sea as a symbol.
The two Greek women were considered the top favorites right from the start and more than lived up to their role. They dominated the field of 470 women in a superior manner, and after ten races, with one race still to go, they lead unassailable with a 34-point lead.
The competitors sail home unnoticed. These include the German Stefanie Rothweiler and MonikLeu. Even today they could not convince, sailed the catastrophic places 20 (last) and 16 and slipped to 14th place in the overall classification.
If it weren't so bitter, one could consider it exciting to see whether the men or the women will be better among the German 470s. Lucas Zellmer and Felix Krabbe are also bobbing up to 14th overall after eleven races, after an 8th place (after all) in today's ninth race.
With the Ynglings, the dream of a medal seems to have been over. Kristin Wagner and her crew only finished eleventh in the first race of the day and slipped back to sixth overall. With two races still to go, they are 21 points short of bronze.
More results will follow …