BBC Blog Network

User Profile

agh_blog

Listed below are comments made by agh_blog between Wednesday, 20th August 2008 and Thursday, 28th August 2008.

«Newer
Older»

Goodison finally steps out of Ainslie's shadow 2:04pm on 28 Aug 2008 Team GB wouldn't have bothered protesting the Danish as they would have known it was pointless. No doubt the Danish notified the race committee about the change and thus were granted dispensation to sail without the correct markings on the sail. Any subsequent protest would have been disregarded by any jury.

And I don't see how that issue compares to Goodison using the rules (and his skill) to his advantage above the rules and completely removed from any protest incidents.

Plus, the 'rule' about sportsmanship and fair play is not unwritten in sailing it's a basic principle of the sport - see ISAF racing rules:

BASIC PRINCIPLE
SPORTSMANSHIP AND THE RULES
Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce. A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors break a rule they will promptly take a penalty, which may be to retire.

FUNDAMENTAL RULE 2
FAIR SAILING
A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized principles of sportsmanship and fair play. A boat may be penalized under this rule only if it is clearly established that these principles have been violated. A disqualification under this rule shall not be excluded from the boat’s series score.

Interesting there was no protest from the Swedish team on these grounds.
Goodison finally steps out of Ainslie's shadow 1:21pm on 20 Aug 2008 Correct, this is sport, so a win at all costs attitude is entirely the correct one - providing it’s within the laws of the game.

Goodison played the game and legally. Sailing the Swedish guy to the back of the fleet and burying him in the pack was, in my view, completely the right thing to do.

Think back to Ainslie v Scheidt in Atlanta. Ainslie was the only one who could stop the Brazilian winning gold and so a bit of pre-start match racing sailed Ainslie out of contention. And how much did Ainslie learn from this? Well he did exactly the same thing to Scheidt himself in Sydney to win gold.

The Swedish may be fuming but they should be annoyed that their guy allowed Goodison to control him pre-start.

It’s a tactic that has gone on for years and should rightly continue in the future. It's not ruthlesness, just a desire to be at the pinnacle of his sport which I applaud.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

agh_blog