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ATHENS, Greece -- By the time they got back to the dock, the sting of losing the gold medal had worn off and American sailors John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree were smiling again.
The Olympic silver medals they had just won in the Tornado class looked nice after all, especially since it took them 11 years to get to the podium. They had a chance at the gold, but it disappeared in the wake of a stunningly fast Austrian catamaran.
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| John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree can't catch the gold-medal-winning Austrians on Saturday.(AP) |
"As soon as the race was over, we had our heads down a little bit," said Ogletree, a sailmaker from Houston. "And as we get to shore and start talking to our friends and family, it's all starting to be pretty good."
Lovell and Ogletree won just the second sailing medal for the United States at these games. It was their first in three Olympics.
"It's just terrific," said Lovell, an accountant from New Orleans who's the skipper. "I've been dreaming about an Olympic medal for a long, long time, and finally got one. It's a huge day for me."
America's Cup star Paul Cayard won't be going home with a medal.
Cayard, of Kentfield, Calif., and crew Phil Trinter of Lorain, Ohio, had a long-shot chance at a medal in the Star class, but were last in the 16-boat fleet Saturday to finish fifth overall.
"That was a frustrating way to end it," said Cayard, in his first Olympics at 45.
"If I sailed everything perfect and something didn't work out, it might be easier to accept," Cayard said. "But I really know a lot of places I made terrible mistakes during this regatta. That's frustrating."
Brazil's Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira clinched the Star gold Thursday, giving Grael an Olympic-record five sailing medals. Canada's Ross MacDonald and Mike Wolfs took the silver, and France's Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau the bronze. Cayard and Trinter finished 17 points out of the bronze.
Lovell and Ogletree came in to the Tornado final knowing they'd clinched at least the silver. They trailed the Austrians by three points, meaning they had to sail an excellent race and somehow get far enough ahead of their rivals in the 17-boat fleet to get the gold.
