U.S. Sailors Bring Home Four Medals From Pan Am Games

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (July 29, 2007) - USA sailors will bring home a stash of medals -- two gold, a silver and a bronze -- from the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which concluded today.  After a week of tight competition and less-than-ideal weather conditions, Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) and Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) won the Laser and Laser Radial fleets, respectively. The Lightning trio of David Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.), Bill Faude (Chicago, Ill.) and Jody Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.) earned a silver medal, only five points behind Chile. Three-time Olympic medalist Paul Foerster won a bronze medal in the Sunfish. Overall, the U.S. earned the second highest medal count behind Brazil, which pulled in three gold and two silver medals. 

Sailors endured delayed and cancelled races throughout the week, due to rain and a lack of breeze.  Unfortunately the weather for Saturday's Medal Races was more of the same: drizzle and light air.  But that didn't quell the excellent competition. "We did a lot of waiting for the weather to calm or pass, but the actual races were high quality," said David Starck. "We were patient and waited for prime sailing conditions and the staff out at the venue could not have been better."

In the final, double-point Medal Races, Campbell stumbled his first beat, but scrambled to catch up to Brazil's Robert Scheidt, a two-time Olympic champion and eight times world champion, who led the entire final race. Campbell rounded the last windward mark before the downwind finish in fourth place, but after a self-described risky split, he was able to get around the Argentinean and Chilean boats to finish overlapped with third and take second in the race behind Scheidt.  "He made it pretty tough on me," said Campbell, whose second place in the double-point Medal Race translated into a gold medal.  

Railey, US SAILING's 2006 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, enjoyed single digit scores, including three bullets, throughout the week. Her impressive performance caused her to secure a gold medal ahead of Mexico's Tania Elias Calles Wolf, who shared 25 overall points.

The Lightning crew of David Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.), Bill Faude (Chicago, Ill.) and Jody Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.) enjoyed a silver medal, only five overall points behind the gold medal winner, Chile. "It really came down to the Medal Race for the gold medal: Chile, Brazil and us," said helmsman Starck. "Ultimately, whoever won the Medal Race would win gold. It was really exciting."

The Sunfish and Hobie 16 classes were unable to race Saturday, due to weather, so the final result of the first eight races, ending Friday, stuck. In the Sunfish, Foerster finished third behind Venezuela and Peru. Foerster's bronze medal is his second Pan Am Games medal: He won a gold medal in the J/24 class at the 1995 Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina.  

The Snipe duo of Augie Diaz (Miami, Fla.) and Tracy Smith (Newport, R.I.) barely missed a medal, landing in fourth place, only three points behind the third place team, Mexico. The J24 crew including Dan Borrer (St. Augustine Beach, Fla.), Nate Vilardebo (Tampa, Fla.), Patrick Wilson (Savannah, Ga.) and Josh Putnam (Augusta, Ga.) finished in fifth place, as did Nancy Rios (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) in the RS:X Women and Ben Barger (Tampa, Fla.) in the RS:X Men.

The XV Pan American Games feature 5,654 athletes from 42 nations competing in 37 sports. The sailing competition is taking place at the Glória Marina in the Guanabara Bay. The Pan American Games are held every four years, historically one year before the Olympic Games. The first Pan American Games were held in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For more information, visit: www.rio2007.org.br.

About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the National Governing Body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.

RESULTS
Top Three and USA

Laser Radial (12 boats) - Medal Race/9 total

1.  USA 4-1-[9]-3-6-1-5-1-4: 25 (Paige Railey/Clearwater, Fla.)

2. Mexico [9]-6-1-2-2-3-3-2-6: 25 (Tania Elias Calles Wolf)
3. Brazil 8-7-[11]-4-3-2-1-5-2: 32 (Adriana Kostiw)

Laser (12 boats) - Medal Race/9 total

1. USA 1-[5]-2-1-3-1-2-4-4: 18 (Andrew Campbell/San Diego, Calif.)

2. Brazil 3-[4]-3-3-2-[5]-1-1-2: 19 (Robert Scheidt)
3. Argentina 7-1-1-[11]-1-4-3-2-8: 27 (Julio Alsogaray)

RS:X Men (nine boats) - Medal Race/9 total
1. Brazil [3]-2-3-1-2-1-2-1-4: 16 (Ricardo Winicki)
2. Argentina 2-3-2-[5]-3-3-1-3-6: 23 (Mariano Reutemann)

3. Mexico 1-1-1-4-[6]-2-3-4-10: 26 (David Mier Y Teran)
5. USA 5-4-[6]-6-4-6-4-6-8: 43 (Ben Barger/Tampa, Fla.)

RS:X Women (seven boats) - 3=Medal Race/9 total
1. Canada 1-1-1-[3]-1-2-1-3-4: 14 (Dominique Vallee)
2. Brazil [4]-3-2-1-2-1-2-2-2: 15 (Patricia Castro)
3. Argentina 2-2-[4]-4-4-3-4-4-6: 29 (Florencia Gutierrez)
5. USA 3-8(OCS)-3-5-5-5-5-5-10: 41 (Nancy Rios/Cocoa Beach, Fla.)

Lightning (seven boats) - Medal Race/8 total
1. Chile 1-1-8(OCS)-1-4-3-2: 14 (Alberto Gonzalez, Diego Gonzalez, Cristian Herman)
2. USA 3-[4]-1-3-3-2-3-4: 19 (Bill Faude/Chicago, Ill.; David Starck/Buffalo, N.Y.; Jody Starck/Buffalo, N.Y.)

3.Brazil 2-3-4-2-[5]-1-1-6: 19 (Claudio Biekarck, Gunnar Ficker, Silva Marcelo)

Sunfish (11 boats) - Race Cancelled/8 total
1. Venezuela [3]-1-2-2-3-2-1-1: 12 (Eduardo Cordero)
2. Peru 1-6-1-5-1-[10]-6-3: 23 (Alexander Zimmermann)
3. USA 2-5-3-[8]-4-7-2-2: 25 (Paul Foerster/Rockwall, Texas)

J24 (seven boats) - Medal Race/8 total

1. Brazil 8(DNC)-1-1-1-2-4-1-8: 18 (Carlos Jordao, Mauricio Oliveria, Daniel Santiago, Alexandre Silva)
2. Argentina 1-2-4-2-1-1-[6]-10: 21 (Joaquin Argerich, Gustavo Gonzalez, Sebastian Brusa, Alejo Rigoni)
3. Canada 3-[4]-3-4-3-3-4-2: 22 (Rossi Milev, Mike Wolfs, Mark Goodyear, Erwyn Naidoo)
5. USA 6-5-2-5-6-[7]-3-4: 31 (Daniel Borrer/St. Augustine Beach, Fla.; Nate Vilardebo/Tampa, Fla.;Patrick Wilson/Savannah, Ga.; Josh Putnam/Augusta, Ga.)

Hobie Cat 16 (eight boats) - Race Cancelled/8 total

1. Brazil 1-1-2-[4]-2-1-3-1: 11 (Bernardo Arndt, Bruno Oliveira)
2. Guatemala 3-2-[6]-2-6-2-2-3: 20 (Juan Ignacio Maegli, Cristina Guirola)
3. Venezuela 4-3-3-[6]-1-3-4-5: 23 (Gonzalo Cendra, Yamil Saba)

5. USA 6-4-1-1-3-[7]-6-6: 27 (Bob Merrick/Branford, Conn.; Eliza Cleveland/Branford, Conn.)

Snipe (11 boats) - Medal Race/8 total
1. Brazil 1-3-[6]-4-2-1-1-2: 14 (Pedro Amaral, Alexandre Paradeda)
2. Uruguay 2-2-2-2-[6]-2-4-4: 18 (Pablo Defazio, Eduardo Medici)
3. Mexico 3-[10]-3-1-1-4-4-3-8: 26 n(Jorge Xavier Murrieta, Andres Akle Carranza)
4. USA 5-4-1-3-1-5-[7]-10: 29 (Augie Diaz/Miami, Fla.; Tracy Smith/Newport, R.I.)