2016 Rio Paralympics: protest denies Aussies gold sailing sweep as Matthew Bugg grabs silver

A ZIG instead of a zag, a protest and a jury’s finding has robbed Australia of a stunning gold-medal sweep in sailing’s farewell to the Paralympic Games.

Matthew Bugg was happy with silver ‘after the week I had.’

A ZIG instead of a zag, a protest and a jury’s finding has robbed Australia of a stunning gold-medal sweep in sailing’s farewell to the Paralympic Games.

Two of Australia’s crews claimed the gold medals they secured with a day of racing to spare – dominant pair Liesl Tesch and Dan Fitzgibbon defended their two-person SKUD18 crown from London while the three-man Sonar crew made it a sailing double.

But an Aussie trifecta fell over when Matthew Bugg rebounded from a heartbreaking setback on the second-last day to fight back and win silver in his one-person keelboat class.

Bugg had been leading the category until he was bumped to third following a race-10 disqualification, stemming from a protest by a Spanish rival over a right-of-way, port-and-starboard incident.

Provisional results still had Bugg leading, pending the outcome of the protest, but his worst fears were confirmed on Sunday morning (EST).

Needing a solid result in the final race just to retain third position and a bronze medal, Bugg produced a blitzing win that elevated him to silver.

Daniel Fitzgibbon and Leisl Tesch grabbed gold for Australia.

“To say (it’s been a rollercoaster) is a bit of an understatement, really,” Bugg said.

“I don’t think anyone has done it tougher than me this week.

“Without being disqualified yesterday and the gear damage the race before, I pretty much would’ve won the last six races at the Paralympic Games. So I can’t be too disappointed with that.

“I think my competitors know I won the regatta on the water but sometimes it goes beyond that into the protest room and, unfortunately, that didn’t go my way.”

Sailing will not be part of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics program and Fitzgibbon said the successful defence of his and Tesch’s London title was a career highlight.

“To race on that racecourse, widely known as the most difficult one in the world, to have a scorecard that we got, and to be retiring at the end of it, that’s a fairytale for us,” he said.

“I can just hang my boots up and be very proud.”

For Tesch, it was a golden ending to a horror start to her Rio campaign, in which she was mugged at gunpoint and pushed off her bicycle during a training camp in the city in June.

Daniel Fitzgibbon and Leisl Tesch were the dominant force in the SKUD18 class.

“(Crime) is just a reality of a city where there is poverty and it’s sad that that’s the reality of the city but there’s much more positive things coming out of the Games than what we saw in the drama leading up to it,” she said.

Two more golds, to swimmer Rachael Watson in her S4 women’s 50m freestyle and runner James Turner in the T36 800m, took Australia’s haul to 21 gold medals.

The Aussies began the final day of competition leading sixth-placed Germay by three golds.

They have a chance to defend their wheelchair rugby title from London after securing a place in the gold-medal match against the United States, while team co-captain Kurt Fearnley will make his farewell to the Paralympic stage in his T54 marathon.

Originally published as 2016 Rio Paralympics: protest denies Aussies gold sailing sweep as Matthew Bugg grabs silver