Aug. 22, 2005
IZMIR, TURKEY - Andrew Campbell (San Diego, CA) and Anna Tunnicliffe (Norfolk, VA) sailed in with the gold and silver medal respectively on Saturday, the final day of the Sailing competition at the 2005 Summer World University Games. A strong second place finish in race 11 and a solid sixth in race 12 pushed Campbell past home country favorite Turkey's Kemal Mutlubas for the gold medal.
"It's great [to have the gold medal]," said Campbell. "I told myself at the beginning of the event that if I could just be patient and sail my own regatta, just do as well as I can every day and take it one race at a time that things would work out. I've done enough sailing and enough training that it should work out right. As it turned out, it was just about perfect. I sailed the most consistent regatta of anybody and that obviously paid off so I was pretty happy about it. Today was tough. I went out and had a great first race and made it really difficult for Mutlubas to come back in the last one. [Mutlubas] put up a really good fight and he almost did it himself. It was a really tight day, but I was glad to be able to put some serious points on him in the first race and be able to put it out of reach."
Tunnicliffe, who entered the day in second place needing to finish ahead of Poland's Katarzyna Szotynska was unable to do so, finishing eighth and fourth to Szotynska's sixth and first, respectively.
"I'm pretty excited about how the overall event went," said Tunnicliffe. "My goal was to get a medal and to come away with the silver is pretty exciting. [Szotynska] sailed an excellent regatta. She is really fast, so it was good to be right there with her the whole regatta. I'm pretty excited with how it went. It is a good step forward going toward the Olympics [Beijing in 2008]."
Brendan Fahey (Kingston, WA) finished12th in the overall regatta standings. He posted a 15th and 13th finish today.
In her first international competition, Jenny Gervais (Charleston, SC) finished in 15th place. She sailed in today with two 16th place finishes.
With half of his team winning medals, USA Head Coach and Team Leader Gary Bodie (Hampton, VA) was very pleased with the performance of the U.S. at the 2005 Summer World University Games.
"It is a great feeling," said Bodie. "We sailed really well today and came through with a gold and a silver. It was a fabulous ending for us. [World University Games] is a great stepping stone for sure. Andrew has a gold medal in the Youth Worlds to match this gold medal at the World University Games. Both Andrew and Anna are really making strides toward the ultimate goal [making the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team]. Their experience here is invaluable."
For more information about the World University Games Team - Sailing, please visit the Team's website at USA Sailing.
For more information about the World University Games, please visit the event website at 2005 World University Games.
The team will march in the Closing Ceremony of the 2005 Summer World University Games on Sunday, August 21 at Ataturk Stadium before departing for theUnited States.
Final Results:
Women's Laser Radial
Overall Standings - Top Three Plus U.S. Finishers
Name (Country)
1. Katarzyna Szotynska (POL) GOLD
2. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) SILVER
3. Krystal Weir (AUS) BRONZE
15. Jennifer Gervais (USA)
Men's Laser
Overall Standings - Top Three Plus U.S. Finishers
Name (Country)
1. Andrew Campbell (USA) GOLD
2. Kemal Mutlubas (TUR) SILVER
3. Johann Cechosz (FRA) BRONZE
12. Brendan Fahey (USA)
