Kiwi Ashley is king of the sail

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-21 08:31

New Zealand windsurfer Tom Ashley celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's RS-X yesterday. AP

Windsurfer Tom Ashley won New Zealand its third gold medal of the Games yesterday in the men's RS:X class.

The 24-year-old reigning world champion had a close fight on the final day but by taking third position in a medal race which lasted just 19 min, he had accumulated enough points to secure victory.

He managed to ward off the challenge of France's Julien Bontemps, beating him by just one point into a silver placing. Israel's Shahar Zubari, despite a fast finish, was a further five points behind and took bronze.

"It's incredible. There was a lot of pumping going on, there was no time to breathe throughout the whole race and I was just destroyed at the end," Ashley said. "Thankfully the guys behind me weren't able to catch me, I thought they were going to at one stage, so yeah, I'm just stoked."

The New Zealander says he thought he had done just enough to secure victory when he finished the event.

His success is New Zealand's first sailing gold medal since Barbara Kendall won the boardsailing at Barcelona in 1992. It took New Zealand's medal tally to nine for these games.

Ashley felt he had almost blown his gold medal chances in the final fleet race on Tuesday when he made a tactical error, falling from first to third.

The son of a sailmaker, he took up boardsailing when his parents bought him a second-hand board in 2000. He began in dinghy sailing until he switched to windsurfing.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/21/2008 page6)