Spain survives protest, wins sailing gold

A crew from Spain survived a protest early Saturday and then won a best-of-five match series for the Olympic gold medal in Elliott 6-meter sailing. It was the final racing in the Olympic regatta and involved a day of drama both out of and on the water. The finals went the distance with Spain winning the fifth and deciding race over Australia by 39 seconds. Gold medals went to the Spanish crew of Tamara Echegoyen Dominguez, Sofia Toro Prieto Puga and Angelo Pumariega Menendez. The semifinals had been scheduled to begin on Thursday, but were postponed to Friday due to a lack of wind. Another relatively calm day forced officials to declare the semifinals over at the end of three races. Spain led Russia 2-1 and Australia also had a 2-1 lead over Finland when that decision was made. The Russian Olympic Committee protested, demanding that a fourth and, if needed, fifth race be held. That protest was denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sports early Saturday and the finals proceeded. The closing races turned out to be thrilling ones with the two crews taking turns winning until Spain captured the final one. The first race went to Spain by 5 seconds, then Australia won by 22 seconds, Spain was a winner by 61 seconds and Australia crossed the line first in 18 seconds to forge a 2-2 tie. Australia's silver medal winning crew was made up of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty. Finland defeated Russia to win the bronze medal. This was the first time match racing had been held at the Olympics for the three-person keelboat class. Australia won won three of the 10 gold medals awarded during Olympic sailing. Spain won twice.