Two-Person Dinghy (470), Women

In 2012, the British crew of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark were reigning world champions in the 470 class and had hoped to add the Olympic gold medal in front of their fans. After the opening 10-race series the Brits were equal with the New Zealand pair of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, but in the medal race the New Zealanders outclassed the Brits to win the gold medal. Four years later in Rio, the same two teams were at the top of the table after the preliminaries. But Mills and Clark had already secured the women’s 470 gold with a 19-point lead and had only to complete the medal race. Their 2012 opponents from New Zealand had already lost the chances to repeat their triumph when they were disqualified in two of the preliminary races, only one of which could be discarded from the total points. Nevertheless they were one of the five teams that still had a chance to win silver or bronze. The men’s and women’s 470 finals had to be postponed by one day due to extremely low wind. A third place in the medal race, ahead of their closest rivals USA (10th) and France (6th), secured the silver for New Zealand. Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha interfered with the Japanese boat and dropped to last place. France’s Camille Lecointre and Hélène Defrance ousted the US team from the bronze medal place. Lecointre with her previous team-mate Mathilde Géron had just missed the podium in 2012, finishing fourth.