This article previews the Olympic sailing classes that have their first race on Saturday August 14th. These classes are: men’s and women’s 470, Finn, & Yngling.

The Finn is a single handed dinghy with a long Olympic history. Brit Ben Ainslie has dominated the class and is the favorite. Pole Matusz Kusnierwicz the 1996 Gold Medallist is back on form this summer. Belgian Sebastian Godefroid is a past Silver medallist but has been indifferent recently.

The American representative is Kevin Hall. Hall has a sailing resume that includes collegiate success, America’s Cup campaigns and Olympic campaigns in several classes. Hall is not a medal favorite and did get a late start on his campaign. A medal for Hall would be synonymous with a fast finish.

Perhaps the most intriguing Finn sailor is New Zealand’s Dean Barker. Currently he is best remembered for being the skipper of Team New Zealand as Alinghi crushed them. Olympic success would certainly enhance Barker’s standing.

The USA’s men’s team of Paul Foerester and Kevin Burnham has one of the best expectations for a medal of any of the USA entries. Both have won Olympic medals with Foerester the silver medal skipper in this class in 2000. Past performance, experience and solid recent results mean a medal would be no surprise.

The Australian team of Wilmot and Page won the 2004 worlds after a 2nd in 2003, making them the favorites.

The British team of Glanfield and Rogers sports a strong record, 4th at the Sydney games and on the podium in recent world championships.

The 2000 bronze medallists Conte and De La Fuente of Argentina have not supported medal expectations recently so qualify as a darkhorse for a 2004 medal.

In the women’s 470 fleet 2000 Gold Medallists Armstrong and Stowell have a strong chance to become double Olympic winners.

The home standing Greek team of Bekatoru and Tsoulfa were world champions in 2003, but have suffered injury troubles recently. No telling if home Olympic magic will strike.

The Netherlands team of Westerhoff and Matthijsse could use Matthijse’s pair of Silvers in the Europe dinghy as a platform for success in 2004.

The US pairing of Mcdowell and Kinsolving is young but improving as in top 10 at the 2004 worlds. In the past 4 Olympics the USA has won medals 3 times (1 of each color of medal). This years the USA’s medal chances may seem lower but this could be another fast finish nets medal situation.

The Yngling keelboat makes it’s Olympic debut. The USA’s 3 women team of Cronin/Filter/Haberland brings a pair of world championship 3rd places and a come from behind trials win to Athens.

The Danish team skippered by Dorte Jensen has had success in the Yngling and also are accomplished match racers.

For British skipper Shirley Robertson this will be her 4th Olympics. Her prior three were in the Europe class in which she was the 2000 gold medallist.

Of these classes the Finn should be the most interesting full of well known, world class sailors. The 470 men’s class has the US team with the best chance at a medal. The 470 women’s class could see a home team win while the 1st Olympic’s for the Yngling should be unpredictable.

I’ll with specific predictions for the Americans. I’ll predict a 2nd and silver medal for Foerester and Burnham, a 6th for Kevin Hall in the Finn, a 5th for Maxwell and Kinsolving in Women’s 470 and a 4th for the Yngling trio.

Tommorrow we’ll look at the 4 classes that start racing on the 15th.

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