Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson of Australia wave to spectators with the Australian national flag after the 470 Women Medal Race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games sailing event at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, an-Olympic co-host city in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2008. Australian pair Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson won the gold medal. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    QINGDAO, East China, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Australian crew Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson completed an Australian double in the 470 fleets by being crowned the gold medallists in the women's two person Dinghy event at the Olympic Sailing Regatta here on Monday.

    Leading the preliminaries with an 18-point margin over the Netherlands, the Australian pair tried to block its nearest rival from the first mark, finishing 9th and 10th respectively. The Netherlands managed to escape the block to leave the Australians the last in the second mark.

    While Brazil led the fleet in the third mark, the Netherlands rebounded to the 6th position. Brazil kept its advantage to the finishing line and the Netherlands finished 5th.

    Although Australia finished 9th in the medal race, its overall 43 points sealed Australia's second gold medal at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center.

    The total 53 points brought Marcelien De Koning and Lobke Berkhout from the Netherlands, world champions in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan from Brazil with 60 points.

    "When we crossed the finish line, we were screaming and crying and shouting. The feeling has not sunk in yet. We're still so stunned and we cannot stop laughing," said 22-year-old Rechichi from Australia on her first Olympic campaign.

    "In the race, we pushed the Dutch behind and did a little match racing. Until the second upwind, they caught us and we got really nervous then. But our plan had already worked out, and we were guaranteed gold," said Parkinson, 21.

    "When we stood on the podium, we saw the Brazilians choked up and we had tears in our eyes. We turned around and I saw Lobke and Marcelien crying too. All of our hardships paid off at that instant and I think we all truly deserve our medals," she added.

    "I dreamed about this last night. It's a big step for us. We had to learn to adapt to the conditions here since it's not something we're familiar with," said De Koning, 30.

    "We beat every team except for Australia. In these conditions, we reached our maximum. We deserve the silver," added the 470 Women World Champion in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

    The bronze medallist Oliveira from Brazil said, "I'm so happy about getting this medal. We've worked for this for three years, Monday to Friday. We dedicated our lives to sailing. We had placed around 7th in every regatta. It was not until last year in the Netherlands when we were ranked 2nd that we decided to come to Qingdao." 

The team of Australia (L) competes during the 470 Women Medal Race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games sailing event at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, an-Olympic co-host city in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2008. Australian pair Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson won the gold medal. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The total 53 points brought Marcelien De Koning and Lobke Berkhout from the Netherlands, world champions in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan from Brazil with 60 points.

    "I dreamed about this last night. It's a big step for us. We had to learn to adapt to the conditions here since it's not something we're familiar with," said de Koning.

    The bronze medallist Oliveira from Brazil said, "I'm so happy about getting this medal. We've worked for this for three years, Monday to Friday. We dedicated our lives to sailing. We had placed around 7th in every regatta. It was not until last year in the Netherlands when we were ranked 2nd that we decided to come to Qingdao."

Related: Australia wins 470 Men at Olympic sailing

    QINGDAO, China, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Australian pair Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page finally had Olympic gold to complete their extensive medal collection as they stormed to the 470 men's gold medal at the Olympic Sailing Regatta here on Monday.

Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia compete during the 470 Men Medal Race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games sailing event at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, an-Olympic co-host city in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2008. The Australian pair won the gold medal.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    They had already secured the gold medal after pulling out a 22-point lead following the final three races of the men's 470. However that did nothing to dull their competitive edge today. They took lead around every mark to win the medal race with 44 points overall and pocketed Australia's first medal in sailing since 2000 Sydney.

    The Australian duo proved its dominance right from the beginning of the medal race, rounding the first mark with a 12-second advantage over France. The distance was narrowed by the second mark when the France was only five second behind.

    The third mark, however, witnessed France drop to the 6th, while Australian crew still maintained its first position, leading Spain with eight-second advantage. They kept the momentum and crossed the finishing line first, securing the first gold medal for Australia at Qingdao Olympic sailing center.

    "This is our first Olympic medal. We have won five world championships before. We waited for a long time for this medal. All the efforts that we put in finally paid off and we got what we waited for," said 36-year-old Page.

    The Australian team came to Qingdao with "unfinished business" after going to Athens four years ago as one of the hot favourites but returning empty-handed.

Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia celebrate after the 470 Men Medal Race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games sailing event at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, an-Olympic co-host city in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2008. The Australian pair won the gold medal.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "We sailed stable and conservatively throughout this regatta and we tried to stay in single digit numbers. At the end we did better than we had hoped," said skipper Wilmot, 28.

    During a glittering career they have won three World Championships and titles at every major regatta in Europe and Australia along with countless other medals.

    Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield from Britain took the silver medal, finishing 3rd in the medal race with 75 points.

    "It's unbelievable. It's really a pleasure to get a medal. We did everything we could to win," said Rogers from Britain. They took the third medal for Britain at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center.

    His teammate Glanfield said "we were second-last when rounding the first weather mark. but we just told ourselves to be cautious about what we were doing. Today we were quite lucky with the conditions."

    The bronze medal went to French pair Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset with 78 points.

    "We're very happy today because we achieved our goal of getting a medal of any colour. We made some mistakes in the last race and we would have won a medal of another colour," said Charbonnier.

    "I am going to call my wife first, who is pregnant. I will be a father next February, so this medal is a perfect gift for my new baby," said Bausset.