Final sailing report.
The 470s brought the regatta to a close, fittingly the last class to sail because it's their final Olympic appearance.
In the Men's race, after a suitably safe start, Belcher/Ryan seemingly took a "why just beat 'em when you can really smash 'em" approach, and moved through the fleet taking the lead by about 1/3 distance, and not letting it go for the rest of the race. Gold by a healthy 22 points. Swedes Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom took 2nd on the water to comfortably take Silver. Jordi Xammar/Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz of Spain finished 5th on the water, which gave them just enough breathing space to hold off the Kiwis Paul Snow-Hansen/Dan Willcox for bronze, who although finished third in the race, trailed by just two points in the end.
In the Women's fleet, GBR' Hanna Mills/Eilidh McIntyre sailed a conservative mid-fleet race, finishing 5th which still left them with a 16-point margin over both 2nd & 3rd. Polish crew Agnieszka Skrzypulec/Jolanta Ogar finished 4th on the water, which tied them on points with French crew Camille Lecointre/Aloise Retornaz, who placed 6th, the higher finish place breaking the tie in favour of the Poles.
The 470 holds a place in Olympic history as the first class to run a separate Women's event, at Seoul in 1988. Prior to that, sailing was an "open" sport, where men & women competed together, although female involvement was low.
