Krystal Weir
I love representing Australia, it is always an amazing feeling. This is now my second Olympics. The first time you go it's all about just getting there. Second time around its definitely about the gold.
Krystal Weir's Sport for Women profile
Krystal Weir's Australian Olympic Team profile
Whitty, Curtis and Price
Jessica Crisp
Elise Rechichi
Belinda Stowell
It is fantastic to be going to my 3rd Olympics, but it is also a great time to test our skills against the best in the world at the sports pinnacle event. We are sailing in Weymouth and Portland which is a great place with a scenic coastline but a real sailing paradise with such a mix of conditions, ( but a bit too cold for a real paradise!!!!) but a venue where the best sailor will be the one who can sail in a wide range of conditions.
It has been a short campaign but we have also had some setbacks in that short time and with a back injury which took me out for nearly 6 weeks it had a huge impact on the team so we were lucky to get the selection and now we have to really fight well to achieve our goals.
The competition environment is amazing and the ability to test myself and push into those zones where the training is put to the test!
Belinda Stowell's Sport for Women profile
Belinda Stowell's Australian Olympic Team profile
Sailing 101
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Jargon buster
Gybing: The act of turning a sailboat across the wind, downwind.
Tacking: Turning a boat from one side of the wind to the other by steering through the eye of the wind.
Hiking out: Leaning over the side of the boat to balance it against the force of the wind.
OCS (On Course Side): A boat deemed to have started a race prematurely, meaning it is subsequently disqualified from the race and awarded the maximum number of points.
Luffing: Altering course towards the wind.
Basic rules
There are three disciplines – match racing (one against one), fleet racing (mass start) and windsurfing – and ten classes of boat.
Crew sizes vary from one to three, with Laser, Laser Radial, Finn and RS-X classes featuring one sailor; the 470, 49er and Star featuring two and the women’s match racing, three.
Competitors contest ten races (15 for the 49er) with points awarded depending on finishing positions in each race (one point for first, 41 for 41st).
Each boat is allowed to discard its worst score and the ten boats with the lowest accumulated scores qualify for the medal race; where points scored are doubled and added to the opening series’ scores to decide the top ten positions.
In match racing, the first boat across the line wins the match. Teams compete against each other in a series of round robin matches, with the top teams progressing to the final knockout stages.
