ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

Olympic windsurfing. Has the desire for jeopardy trumped fairness?

- PETER HART

Imagine it’s the final day the tour de France. As is traditional, the leader, resplendent in his yellow jersey, is escorted by his fellow competitors down the Champs-Elysées in a victory parade, soon to be fêted by the whole of France. But wait. As he nears the finish line, out steps an official. “Listen everyone. Slight change of plan. Um… well done Alphonse.

After three weeks of the most gruelling torture the human body can endure, you have arrived here with a sizeable lead. However, to make it more exciting for the crowd, we’ve decided that the top three riders are going to do a 100m sprint and whoever wins that wins the Tour… OK? Are you ready? Go!”. Alphonse doesn’t hear the gun and comes third. France revolts. Emma Wilson won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. When you think how hard it is just to get selected for the games let alone take on the best in the world, to win a bronze is incredible. Who will ever forget Bryony Shaw’s euphoric outburst on breakfast TV after she’d come from behind to snatch a bronze in the last race of the Beijing Games? “I’m so f***ing happy!” she announced. However, to get a bronze medal having so completely dominated the fleet coming into the last race, as Emma did in Marseille, had to be a bitter disappointment – and maybe just a touch unjust.

MORE TENSION

Olympic sailing has been criticised in the past, with some justification, for being too complex, not very televisual and, with the series sometimes being decided well before the last race, lacking in the sort of tension to thrill a non-sailing audience. Hence in 2008 the Medal Race was introduced. The qualification series counted, but the last race, containing just the top ten athletes, was worth double points.