Sailing

Russia: Sport Federations Removed Athletes From Result of McLaren Report

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With the publication of the McLaren Report on the accusation of government sponsored doping from Russia the IOC has ruled that Russia will not be banned from the 2016 Olympic Games, but gave each sport federation a set of rules to follow and remove athletes should they not meet the standards. The notable rules include the removal of all athletes implicated in the report, the removal of athletes whom have doped in the past and the removal of athletes which have not satisfied testing standards after excluding the results from the Moscow lab. While most sports did not make any changes others have.

Before the report was released athletics had already banned all of Russia’s athletes, with the exception of ones which have been out of the Russian testing system long enough. Currently only Darya Klishina has satisfied IAAF’s standard, she will compete in the women’s long jump. The other 67 athletes chosen by Russia did not make the standard. Yuliya Stepanova was also eligible to compete, but due to her role in exposing the Russian doping scandal she currently has not been selected to compete.

Besides athletics the biggest loss of athlete quotas comes from rowing. Originally Russia qualified five boats with 28 athletes (including 2 coxswains). In total 20 athletes were found to not have sufficient testing, causing World Rowing to remove four boats from Russia; the men’s lightweight fours, men’s eights, women’s lightweight double sculls and women’s eights. Russia was allowed to make a team to compete in the men’s fours out of the remaining six rowers; the two coxswains were technically eligible though for obvious reasons were not going to be selected. The reallocated boats went to Australia (women’s eights), Greece (men’s lightweight fours) and Italy (men’s eights and women’s lightweight double sculls).

Overall only one sport suffered a full banned. Due to multiple athletes getting caught doping the International Weightlifting Federation has completely banned Russia. Earlier Russia lost one man and one woman quota due to excess doping violations, but now they have lost the remaining eight (5 men, 3 women) quotas. The women’s quotas have been reallocated to Albania, Georgia and Moldova while the men’s quotas have been reallocated to Belgium, Croatia, El Salvador, Mongolia and Serbia.

In aquatics only swimmers were removed. Four athletes were removed due to having prior doping violations while three more were removed due to being implicated into the report. One of these athletes was open water swimmer Anastasia Krapivina. This means her quota has been reallocated to Hungary’s Anna Olasz.

The International Canoeing Federation announced five athletes scheduled to compete at the 2016 Olympics will be removed due to their involvement in the report. This has caused Russia to lose athlete quotas in five boats; men’s K2 200m, men’s C1 200m, men’s C2 1000m, women’s K1 200m and women’s K2 500m. The quotas have been reallocated to Austria (women’s K2 500m), Germany (women’s K1 200m), Iran (men’s C1 200m) and Sweden (men’s K2 200m). The men’s C2 1000m was not reallocated. The additional boat in the women’s K1 500m which did not use an athlete quota has also been removed.

Edit: Sweden has declined the quota, it has been reallocated to Canada

In cycling six athletes were withdrawn, three due to previous doping violations and three others whom were implicated in the report. Currently the UCI has not named the athletes or any potential change in the quotas.

In modern pentathlon Maksim Kustov and alternate Ilia Frolov were connected in the report and have been excluded. The quota was reallocated to Latvia’s Ruslan Nakonechnyi.

United World Wrestling removed one wrestler due to a prior doping violation. Viktor Lebedev has been removed from his event, men’s freestyle -57kg. The quota was reallocated to Belarus.

In sailing one athlete, in the men’s 470 was connected to the report and has been removed. However, Russia has been given an opportunity to make a late replacement.

In total, including athletics the Russian team has shrank by 122 athletes. While most of them were removed due to previous doping offenses or being included in the report others have been excluded due to being teammates of someone who has doped.

 

Net Athlete Quotas by Nations

  • Italy – 11
  • Australia – 9
  • Greece – 4
  • Austria – 2
  • Canada – 2
  • Albania – 1
  • Belarus – 1
  • Belgium – 1
  • Croatia – 1
  • El Salvador – 1
  • Georgia – 1
  • Germany – 1
  • Hungary – 1
  • Iran – 1
  • Latvia – 1
  • Moldova – 1
  • Mongolia – 1
  • Serbia – 1
  • Russia – -122

 

Note: Possible cycling reallocations have yet to be announced.

 

References

Sailing: Second Round of Reallocations Announced

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World Sailing has announced the second stage reallocation of rejected quotas. In total six boats were rejected by their federation. The highest ranked eligible boat from the 2015 World Championship is granted the reallocation quota.

Four of the boats came from the RS:X events. Canada rejected their quotas from both genders while Sweden rejected the two boats which it gained through the last round of reallocation due to their strict qualifying standards. For the men’s RS:X the boats were reallocated to Chinese Taipei and Turkey while for the women’s RS:X they were reallocated to Latvia and Singapore as Germany also rejected the reallocation quota.  Canada also rejected the men’s 49er boat it was given through the previous round of reallocation thus the boat now goes to Switzerland. The final rejected quota was in the 49erFX where Australia rejected the boat. Initially the boat was reallocated to Croatia, but since they also rejected the quota it has now been given to Austria.

With the exception of Austria in the women’s 49erFX all other boats have been confirmed by their NOC thus we now know the make-up of the races. All that is left is for the final athletes to be announced.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

  • Austria – 1
  • Chinese Taipei – 1
  • Latvia – 1
  • Singapore – 1
  • Switzerland – 1
  • Turkey – 1
  • Australia – -1
  • Sweden – -2
  • Canada – -3

 

References

Sailing: Boat Reallocations Announced

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World Sailing has announced the reallocation of rejected quotas. In total six boats were rejected by their federation. The highest ranked eligible boat from the 2015 World Championship is granted the reallocation quota.

New Zealand with their high standards rejected three boats; the men’s RS:X, the women’s RS:X and the women’s laser radial. In addition Australia rejected their boat in the women’s RS:X. Sweden benefited the most from the reallocation as they are now qualified in the men’s and women’s RS:X while Turkey also qualified in the women’s RS:X. The women’s laser radial was reallocated to Spain. Also rejecting quotas were Canada in the women’s 470 and Sweden in the men’s 49er. Those quotas were reallocated to Italy and Canada respectively.

All the other quotas have been confirmed by their NOCs. All that is remaining is for these six quotas to be confirmed.

 

Net Boat Quotas by Nations

  • Italy – 1 (1 Gain)
  • Spain – 1 (1 Gain)
  • Sweden – 1 (2 Gain, 1 Loss)
  • Turkey – 1 (1 Gain)
  • Canada – 0 (1 Gain, 1 Loss)
  • Australia – -1 (1 Loss)
  • New Zealand – -3 (3 Loss)

 

References

Sailing: Tripartite Quotas Announced

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The tripartite quotas have been announced for sailing. Tripartite quotas are awarded to nations which have qualified an average of less than 8 athletes in individual events over the past two Olympics. Two quotas were available in the men’s laser and another two were available in the women’s laser radial.

In men’s laser the two quotas went to Angola’s Manuel Lelo and Bermuda’s Cameron Pimentel. The women’s laser radial quotas went to Cayman Islands’ Florence Allan and Saint Lucia’s Stephanie Devaux-Lovell.

In general we are still waiting for nations to confirm their sailing quotas. With the potential of some rejections nations can still qualify through reallocation.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Angola – 1
  • Bermuda – 1
  • Cayman Islands – 1
  • Saint Lucia – 1

 

References

Sailing: Final Qualifiers Decided After Princess Sofia Trophy

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The final qualification event in sailing has concluded with the 2016 Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta. The event was a continental qualifier for both Africa and Europe. In Africa the five remaining continental events were decided, namely the men’s finn, women’s 470, men’s 49er, women’s 49erFX and mixed Nacra17 where the top ranked eligible boat qualified to the Olympics. For Europe all ten events had quotas up for grabs. The men’s RS:X, men’s laser and women’s laser radial quotas went to the two highest ranked eligible nations while the highest ranked eligible boat in the other seven events qualified to the Olympics. The Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta was held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain from March 25th to April 2nd 2016.

Reallocation was the big theme in the African qualifiers as no African nation competed in the women’s 470, men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX. The boats were reallocated to the next best nation at the 2015 World Championships, specifically, Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland respectively. The mixed Nacra17 went to Tunisia as they were the only African boat competing while the men’s finn went to four-time laser Olympian Allan Julie of the Seychelles.

The European qualifiers were quite split with only Hungary winning two quotas in the women’s RS:X and women’s laser radial. Also qualifying in the women’s laser radial is Portugal’s Sara Carmo whom did just enough to finish ahead of Switzerland’s Maud Jayet. The two nations which qualified in the men’s RS:X were Croatia and Belarus while the two which qualified in the men’s laser were Russia and the Czech Republic.

Finland’s boat in the women’s 49erFX not only qualified to the Olympics, but also reached the medal race though they would go to finish ninth overall. Sweden was the only eligible nation whom reached the gold fleet in the men’s 49er and thus qualified. Two disqualifications for Sweden in the Nacra17 ultimately cost them the Olympic quota as Greece finished ahead of them by an 18 point margin. In the men’s Finn it was Turkey’s Alican Kaynar whom did just enough to qualify over the Czech Republic and Russian boats. Israel qualified in the women’s 470 by reaching the medal race and finishing an overall ninth place. The closest match for Olympic qualification was in the men’s 470 as Italy and the Ukraine finished leveled on points. Ukraine would be given the quota since they had a better best result than Italy (a second place vs. a sixth place).

In the overall races New Zealand was the only nation in which they won two events, the men’s laser and men’s finn. Other gold medalists include Australia (men’s 470), Finland (women’s laser radial), France (mixed Nacra17), Great Britain (men’s RS:X), Ireland (men’s 49er), Netherlands (women’s 49erFX), Poland (women’s 470) and Russia (women’s RS:X).

This was the final qualification event in sailing. All that is left is for all nations to confirm their quotas and assign sailors. Also two tripartite invitations each will be given out in the men’s laser and women’s laser radial to nations expected to send small teams. Overall 62 nations have qualified at least one boat to the Olympics.

 

Boats by Nations

  • Hungary – 2
  • Belarus – 1
  • Belgium – 1
  • Croatia – 1
  • Czech Republic – 1
  • Finland – 1
  • Greece – 1
  • Ireland – 1
  • Israel – 1
  • Portugal – 1
  • Russia – 1
  • Seychelles – 1
  • Sweden – 1
  • Switzerland – 1
  • Tunisia – 1
  • Turkey – 1
  • Ukraine – 1

 

References

Sailing: Four Nations Qualify After Asian Championship

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Storms caused a reduction of sailing races, but four nations managed to qualify at the 2016 Asian Sailing Championship. In total quotas for six events were up for grab. The two highest ranked eligible boats in the men’s RS:X, men’s laser and women’s laser radial qualified their nation while the highest ranked boat in the women’s RS:X, men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX qualifier their nation. The Asian Sailing Championship was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from March 5th to March 12th 2016.

The men’s 49er began with many nations jostling for positions, but eventually it was Japan’s Yukio Makino and Kenji Takahashi whom pulled ahead of the competition though only held a four point lead going into the medal race. Their third place finish however was enough to win the event and qualify to the Olympics with 18.0 net points. The silver medal went to South Korea while the bronze went to Oman.

It became quite clear that Japan was going to win the quota place for the women’s 49erFX, but the main question became which among the three boats would officially win the spot. All three of Japan’s boats were tied at 13.0 points going into the medal race. Keeping true to their top performances all three boats finished within the top four positions with the boat containing Keiko Miyagawa and Sena Takano winning the gold medal.

The men’s laser was topped by Malaysia’s Khairulnizam Afendy whom essentially qualified to the Olympics before the medal race even began. The second quota went to silver medalist Keerati Bualong of Thailand whom had a strong medal race to secure his spot.

The first quota for the women’s laser radial was won by Thailand’s Kamolwan Chanyim whom secured at least a top two finish before the medal race after winning four out of the seven fleet races and finishing in the top four in all of her races. The gold medal wasn’t secured though and she was made to work for it as she finished the medal race in fourth position to win the gold by three points. The silver medal and the second Olympic quota went to Nur Shazrin Latif of Malaysia.

The men’s RS:X was dominated by South Korea’s Cho Wonwoo as he won five out of the eight fleet races and proceeded to win the medal race as well. However, South Korea has already won a quota in the event. The first quota went to bronze medalist Natthaphong Phonoppharat of Thailand. The second quota had to be decided via the medal race as Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines were all still in contention for the final spot. In the end Leonard Ong’s sixth place finish was enough to secure Singapore the quota as he finished in seventh place overall.

The women’s RS:X was won by Hong Kong’s Sin Lam Lo whom had a consistent performance throughout the event. The Olympic quota came down to Thailand’s Siripon Kaewduangngam and South Korea’s Sabin Chun.  While Chun finished ahead of Kaewduangngam in the medal race it was not enough to take the overall lead as Thailand grabbed the only quota and silver medal.

Overall this was a great event for Southeast Asia and Japan. With this event all of the Asian continental qualifiers have concluded. One more event remains to decide quotas for two continents, the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta which is scheduled to begin at the end of the month.

 

Boats by Nations

  • Thailand – 4
  • Japan – 2
  • Malaysia – 2
  • Singapore – 1

 

References

Sailing: 10 Nations Qualify Boats After World Cup Miami

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Ten nations qualified at least one boat at the 2016 Miami World Cup. The event doubled as the continental qualification events for the North America/Caribbean and Central/South America continents. While other nations from other continents competed only those nations were eligible to win quotas. The highest ranked eligible boat for each continent won a quota, except for the men’s RS:X where the top two from each continent was given a spot. The Miami World Cup was held in Miami, United States from January 25th to January 30th 2016.

Canada was the biggest winner at these qualifiers as they qualified boats in six events. However, three of them; men’s Finn, women’s RS:X and women’s 470 were because Canada was the only eligible nation. The other three boats in which they qualified were men’s RS:X, men’s 470 and mixed Nacra17. In total Canada will be competing in 9 out of the 10 events.

Speaking of completing quotas the United States will compete in all 10 events after they won quotas in the men’s RS:X, men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX. The two remaining quotas in the North America/Caribbean continent went to Mexico in men’s laser and Bermuda in women’s laser radial.

Chile was the biggest winner in the Central/South America continent. In total they qualified four boats; men’s 470, women’s 470, men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX in which they were the only eligible nation competing. In total they will be competing in five events at the Olympics.

Argentina was almost able to complete its set, but missed qualifying in the women’s 470. They did qualify in the men’s Finn and women’s RS:X. Venezuela also qualified multiple quotas with boats in the men’s RS:X and men’s laser. The remaining quotas went to Colombia in men’s RS:X, Peru in women’s laser radial and Uruguay in mixed Nacra17.

In the overall event the Netherlands were the best team, winning four medals including gold in the men’s RS:X and mixed Nacra17. Brazil also won two events in the men’s laser and men’s Finn. The other gold medallists were from Belgium (women’s laser radial), China (women’s 470), Great Britain (women’s RS:X), New Zealand (women’s 49erFX), Spain (men’s 49er) and United States (men’s 470)

This was the final opportunity for nations in these two continents to qualify to the Olympics. Currently we still have all of the European continental qualifiers remaining along with some events for nations in Africa and Asia.

 

Boats by Nations

  • Canada – 6
  • Chile – 4
  • United States – 3
  • Argentina – 2
  • Venezuela – 2
  • Bermuda – 1
  • Colombia – 1
  • Mexico – 1
  • Peru – 1
  • Uruguay – 1

 

References

Sailing: South Africa Wins African Men’s 470 Championship

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South Africa swept the medals at the 2016 African Men’s 470 Championship. The highest ranked boat from a nation not yet qualified would be given a spot to compete at the Olympics. The African Men’s 470 Championship was held in Cape Town, South Africa from January 13th to January 17th 2016.

Only two nations were eligible to qualify to the Olympics, Angola which entered two boats and Algeria which entered a single boat. South Africa also participated with seven boats. An injury to one of Algeria’s sailors caused the team to fail to finish the race and subsequently pull out of the competition. This essentially guaranteed that the quota would go to Angola.

As the competition progressed it became apparent that the race for gold came down between two South African boats; one with Sibusiso Sizatu and Alex Burger and the other with Jim Asenathi and Roger Hudson. The two boats traded the lead numerous times over the competition with Asenathi and Hudson taking a two point lead going into the match race. Asenathi and Hudson would go to clinch the gold medal over Sizatu and Burger by winning the match race. Compatriots Brevan Thompson and Alexander Ham won the bronze medal.

This was the final opportunity for athletes from Africa to qualify in the men’s 470. Currently 5 out of the 10 sailing events still remain for Olympic qualification for African athletes. Those five boats will be decided at the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta to be held in March.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Angola – 1

 

References

Sailing: Reallocation Galore at Oceania Qualifiers

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Reallocation quotas were the big theme at the first leg of the 2015-16 Sailing World Cup. The event doubled as the Oceania continental qualification event. The top ranked eligible Oceania nation would qualify to the Olympics. The first leg of the Sailing World Cup was held in Melbourne, Australia from December 9th to December 13th 2015.

With New Zealand already qualified in all ten events, Australia qualified in nine events and the other Oceania nations not participating in most events there were no eligible nations for the quota to be given to. Funny enough the one event Australia was not qualified in ended up being cancelled. The reallocation process meant that the highest eligible nation at the 2015 World Championships for the event would qualify. This happened in eight out of the ten events. The reallocated quotas went to China (men’s 470), Croatia (men’s 49er), Italy (men’s finn), Norway (women’s 49erFX), Spain (women’s 470), Ukraine (men’s RS:X) and the United States (women’s RS:X and mixed nacra17). Also because China is now qualified through the 2015 Worlds in the men’s 470 its original continental quota has now been reallocated to South Korea.

The only quotas that went to Oceania nations were the men’s laser and women’s laser radial. However, only one eligible nation participated and by completing the event the Cook Islands are now qualified in the two events.

There was some expectation that this might happen when ISAF created continental qualifiers for this Olympics, but I think this was more about Australia’s and New Zealand’s performances at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. It’s a shame that the men’s RS:X event was not held as it prevented Australia from entering a full fleet. This was the final opportunity for Oceania nations to qualify in any sailing events.

 

Boats by Nations

  • Cook Islands – 2
  • United States – 2
  • Croatia – 1
  • Italy – 1
  • Norway – 1
  • South Korea – 1
  • Spain – 1
  • Ukraine – 1

 

References

Sailing: Four Nations Qualify After African Championship

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Four nations were able to qualify boats based on their performance at the 2015 African Sailing Championships. The championship contained four Olympic events where the top two highest ranked eligible boats in the men’s laser, women’s laser radial and men’s RS:X along with the highest ranked boat in the women’s RS:X were given spots to compete. The African Sailing Championship was held in Algiers, Algeria from December 4th to December 11th 2015.

In the men’s RS:X a total of 13 boats from 5 nations competed. After a relatively poor first race Algeria’s Hamza Bouras was able to win six out of the twelve races on route to gold and a quota for his nation. Second place was decided in the final race where Algeria’s Zakaria Belaidouni finished ahead of Seychelles’ Jean-Marc Gardette. However, a nation can only have one boat per event so the Olympic quota went to the Seychelles.

Katia Belabbas was in a league of her own in the women’s RS:X as she won all twelve races to win the gold medal and Olympic quota. Algeria completed the sweep in the two nation, four boat regatta as compatriots Faiza Matallah and Sara Hammaoui won the silver and bronze medal respectively.

The women’s laser radial had a total of 8 boats from 5 nations. The regatta was constantly a fight between Algeria’s Imene Sahraoui, Egypt’s Khlouloud Mansi and Tunisia’s Ines Gmati. For almost all of the ten races the three sailors occupied the top three positions. By the time the final race occurred only two points separated the three sailors. Ines Gmati was able to win the final race followed by Mansi and Sahraoui. This led to a three way tie at 18 points. Using the tie-breaker Gmati and Sahraoui won the gold and silver medals and Olympic spots respectively.

The men’s laser race had a total of 10 boats from 6 nations. The gold medal went to Tunisia’s Youssef Akrout whom won nine out of the ten races. However, he did not win an Olympic place since he already won one for his nation back at the 2014 World Championship. Seychelles was already guaranteed a quota spot before the final race as only Rodney Govinden could catch his compatriot Allan Julie. The race for the final spot was between Algeria’s Idris Bouhadda, Angola’s Manuel Lelo and Egypt’s Ahmed Ragab. Bouhadda was penalized for starting over the start line, effectively ending his chances. Lelo needed to finish two spots ahead of Ragab to win the quota and did well by finishing in second, but a third place finish by Ragab was enough to give him the second quota. Julie ended up with the bronze medal due to capsizing in the final race meaning his compatriot Govinden finished ahead of him after placing fourth in the final race.

This was the final opportunity for African nations to qualify in these four sailing events. The next African championship will be the men’s 470 to be held in 2016. The other five events will be held in during the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Algeria – 3
  • Seychelles – 2
  • Egypt – 1
  • Tunisia – 1

 

References