Racing rule questions

[Davidasailor26]

There must have been controversy over this, no? Ainslie had a chance to win gold by winning that race (depending upon the Brazilian finishing lower than 11th), but instead he chose the dirty trick method to get his gold medal. To me, this looks like the absolute worst in sportsmanship, which I thought the British were supposedly known for. After seeing this (occuring over 20 years ago), I've lost all respect for Ainslie, or at least I've lost all respect for his gold medal. He should be ashamed! How can he call himself a sailor!

I totally get your point, and I’m sure it was controversial, but personally disagree that it is poor sportsmanship. He used the rules to his advantage to win the regatta. To me that’s not fundamentally any different than holding your course on starboard tack to cross in front of a competitor. Lots of team sports (including racing) are built on strategies like this that are more than just winning individual head-to-head competition.

Certainly if Ainslie had gone outside the bounds of the rules that would be different. For example if he forced contact that damaged the Brazil boat and prevented it from finishing the race. But that would be addressed by the Fair Sailing rule (Rule 2) and Ainslie would have been DSQ’d for anything like that.

 

[jssailem]

Of note... In the races leading up to this final race, the tactics were different. Ainslie had finished with enough points (meaning first or second's) to place him and the Brazilian in the battle that we watched.

Could the Brazilian have chosen a different tactic than to stay next to Ainslie?
Could he have set up a condition that Ainslie could have hit him?

Play with in the rules the contest gives you.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Oh boo! That's not winning like a man ... that's scurrying around the track like a rodent in a maze. I'm reminded what a true competitor looks like. Back in in 2019, in Mikeala Shiffrin's most glorious season to date, she had stated that winning the Giant Slalom Globe for season standings in GS was her most coveted goal at the beginning of the season. She had already been a dominant force in her career in slalom and the overall standings and won those globes multiple times, but she had never dominated giant slalom, so it was important to her. When she got to the final race in giant slalom on the very last day of the season, she had already collected the globe for Slalom, Super G, and the Overall World Cup title. But she needed to finish ahead of her nearest competitor for the GS globe. She was basically in the driver's seat but if the other racer finished strongly enough Mikaela would need to win the race. So she goes out and wins the first run but the competitor is still close enough to make it a dual to the end. In ski racing, the 2nd run order is based on placement in the 1st run with the fastest skier skiing last. Mikaela's competitor failed to finish the race high enough to force a showdown. When Mikaela's turn for 2nd run came Mikaela was assured of winning the globe as long as she finished the race in 15th place or better. This was almost a guarantee for her. She could give up seconds in the run and place high enough to earn her most coveted goal. The only danger she faced was to ski too aggressively and fail to finish. A DNF or DSQ could still cost her the globe and all ski racers know how easily a run can go sideways.

So what did Mikaela do? She won the race and put her stamp on the season! That's what I call a competitor and a sports hero!