Britain's Yngling wins games' first sailing gold

QINGDAO, China (AP) Britain's three-woman Yngling team took the first sailing gold of the Beijing Games in strong winds and heavy rain Sunday, with the Netherlands clinching silver and Greece bronze after the first-ever Olympic sailing medal race.

Two of the three on the British team - Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb - defended their Yngling gold from 2004, with Pippa Wilson as third crew in Qingdao after she replaced Shirley Robertson of the Athens crew.

"When we crossed the line, the of three of us just looked at each other," said Ayton, the British skipper. "Words cannot put any kind of meaning on it," she said, adding that "You just know that you're the best in the world at what you do."

Going into the medal race, which was postponed from Saturday because the winds failed, the British women had a one point lead on the Dutch team of Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen. However, the final race, which counts double, turned into a battle between the British and the German trio of Ulrike Schuemann, Ute Hoepfner and Julia Bleck.

The British led the first two legs, surfing downwind in the choppy Yellow Sea with their spinnaker, only to be passed by the Germans on the third. On the final leg, the British fought back, and crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Germany, to win both the medal race and the gold medal. The Germans ended as No. 4 overall.

The Dutch, which had been the only team in a position to challenge the British crew of the GBR boat, were No. 5 in the 10 boat fleet, a finish that secured them the silver.

"This is my first Olympic medal, but it is a pity that we didn't beat GBR," said Bes, of the Dutch boat.

The Greek trio of Sofia Bekatorou, who won the 470 class gold in Athens, Sofia Papadopoulou and Virginia Kravarioti finished third in the medal race to snatch the bronze in the close race with the rest of the fleet.

"We feel great for the 10 million Greeks back home," Bekatorou said of the bronze.

The start of the second medal race of the day was delayed by shifting winds and heavy rain for the Finn class. British triple Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie was assured at least a silver with his overall lead after eight preliminary races, and was expected to closely guard America's Zach Railey, No. 2 in the rankings, to protect the gold.

The Danish 49er team of Jason Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen has an 11-point lead on Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello of Italy, with the Australian, Spanish and American boats close behind going into their own medal race on Sunday.

Medal races are a new feature added for the Beijing Games. The top 10 boats in a series of preliminary races advance to the medal final, which counts double in determining each boat's total score.

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