Date | 2 – 10 August 2012 | |
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Status | Olympic | |
Location | Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, Isle of Portland | |
Participants | 54 from 27 countries | |
Format | Points awarded for placement in each race. Best 10 of 11 scores to count for N. N count double. |
The pre-Olympic favorites were Australians Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page. They had moved to first in the ISAF 470 rankings in 2007 and had been World Champions and World Cup champions in 2011. Page had won a gold medal in this event in 2008, then partnered by Nathan Wilmot. But the event was close, as they were pushed throughout by hometown favorites Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell. The Australians had a four-point lead going into the medal race, and tried to force the Brits into a poor start but without success. On the final leg, the British crew was penalized for illegally trimming their sails for extra speed, which allowed Australia to come home in second and win the gold medal, with Great Britain taking silver. This was the third consecutive silver medal in the event for Great Britain. Australia had also won this event in 2008 and 2012. The bronze went to the Argentine crew of Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente.