Yachting: Nominations saga buried as Olympic team named

1.00pm

Five yachting crews were today selected for the New Zealand Olympic team, but more could be added after regattas in Europe this month.

Boardsailing veteran Barbara Kendall heads the list confirmed for Athens, where the former world champion will be taking part in her fourth Olympics.

With a gold, a silver and a bronze medal from successive Games, beginning in Barcelona in 1992, the Aucklander will be New Zealand sailing's top medal hope in Greece.

Others named today are Europe sailor Sarah Macky, former world Laser No 1 Hamish Pepper, up-and-coming boardsailor Thomas Ashley and the men's 470 pairing of Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt.

All five crews had been nominated by Yachting New Zealand.

Today's team naming caps a controversial year for YNZ after the Sports Disputes Tribunal upheld two of three appeals against YNZ's nominations to the New Zealand Olympic Committee in March.

YNZ then appealed against the tribunal's decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport who eventually overruled the tribunal's original decision allowing YNZ's nominations in the Laser and 470 men's class to stand.

If the number of crews stays as it is, it will be the smallest New Zealand sailing contingent selected for an Olympics since the boycott-hit Moscow Games in 1980.

But Yachting NZ chief executive Simon Wickham said he expected further names to be added after Finn, women's 470 and Yngling events in Europe over the next fortnight.

"If it stays in its current state it will be one of the smallest," Wickham said of team size.

"But I doubt very much if it will end up like that. I would expect that after these regattas, we would be adding people."

One strong possibility is in the Finn event, in which New Zealand has qualified for Athens and has a strong tradition, with Russell Coutts winning gold in 1984, John Cutler bronze in 1988 and Craig Monk bronze four years later.

The final selection trial for the single-handed men's dinghy class will be the European championships in France starting this weekend, with the contenders being Dean Barker, Peter Fox and Clifton Webb.

America's Cup skipper Barker, 12th in the world championships last year, finished the best of the trio at the Hyeres world ranking regatta in France last week with a placing of 14th overall.

In the women's 470, Melinda Henshaw and Jan Shearer have the inside running over main rivals Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson, having won the national trials in January.

But they have to demonstrate, through their performance at the world championships beginning in Croatia this week, that they have the potential to finish in the top 10 at Athens.

"They are doing reasonably well and improving as they go, but they haven't finished in the top-10 in one of the major regattas yet," Wickham said.

"Although that is not necessarily a requirement, it strengthens their case when they are considered by the selectors."

New Zealand has not yet qualified for Athens in the Yngling women's keelboat class, with the final qualifying regatta being the world championships in Spain.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has been confirmed as missing out on qualifying for the Star class, after the crew of Rohan Lord and Andrew Taylor were initially thought to have done enough last week.

However, after redress was given to another country at the world championships in Italy, New Zealand's Olympic berth was reallocated.

Wickham was reluctant to be drawn into talking about medals in a sport in which New Zealand has done well in over recent Olympics, but believed a number of crews were within "striking distance".

He rated Kendall as the strongest prospect, while Sydney Olympian Macky had pressed her case with consistent top-10 results this year.

"Hamish, you can never write off and he's proving he can finish in the top-10 in major regattas," he said

"In Tom, you've got an unknown quantity, being a young guy who has risen quickly through the ranks and shown top-three form in key regattas."

At Hyeres, Ashley finished runner-up, while Pepper, a 1996 Olympian who returned to dinghy sailing after Team New Zealand's unsuccessful America's Cup defence last year, was eighth.

Yachting team:-

Men's 470 - Andrew Brown/Jamie Hunt

Women's mistral - Barbara Kendall

Men's mistral - Thomas Ashley

Laser - Hamish Pepper

Europe - Sarah Macky

- NZPA