KEY POINTS:
A frustrating Olympic yachting regatta ended for New Zealand Star pairing Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams with a ninth placing on stormy Fushan Bay here today.
One of the pre-event favourites in an even field, the duo finished seventh in the medal race in rain, choppy seas and 12-knot winds to end on 80 points.
It was 27 points off bronze medallists Sweden, who slipped to third overall behind winners Britain and silver medallists Brazil.
Combining for the first time at an Olympics, the Rod Davis-coached New Zealand pair started strongly and were second overall after three races in a 16-strong fleet which sailed largely in light winds.
But the 2006 world champions had a poor second half and ensured they wouldn't feature in medal calculations when they finished 13th, fifth and 11th yesterday.
"They'll be disappointed, they didn't sail to their potential. Maybe it was the venue a little bit," New Zealand manager Russell Green said.
"They had some really good moments, they'd have a good race, have an opportunity but they just weren't fast enough downwind.
"They weren't able to be consistent enough to be in the top-three."
It left Pepper still seeking an Olympic medal at his third Games, having finished 10th in the Laser in Atlanta in 1996 and seventh in the same class in Athens four years ago.
It ended New Zealand's yachting campaign in Qingdao, in which Tom Ashley's boardsailing gold shone like a beacon.
It was an improvement on Athens when the team went medal-less for the first time since 1976.
Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch was best of the rest, finishing fifth and just six points off a bronze after winning the medal race.
An abandoned 10th race due to fickle conditions was a blow to his chances of pushing into the medal contest.
Boardsailor Barbara Kendall, 40, finished sixth in her bid for a fourth Olympic medal and refused to rule out a sixth Games bid in 2012.
"I love windsurfing and I love trying to win and do my best, the challenge of trying to do it, the euphoria and the disappointment," Kendall said.
"I'll take some time off, I'm in no hurry to make any decisions. (Wednesday) was such a beautiful breeze, and I thought 'god this is a good sport', there's nothing that beats it and it's pretty hard to give up.
"Never say never, even though I'm the oldest girl out there and one of the only ones with kids. It's pretty hard to compete against the young ones but give me my conditions and they're in trouble. We just didn't really have enough of them," she said.
Laser Radial sailor Jo Aleh, at her first Olympics, rued a poor second half of her regatta to finish seventh after leading at the halfway point, Dan Slater faded to 12th in the Finn after a good start and teenage pair Peter Burling and Carl Evans finished a creditable 11th, just two points off the medal race.
- NZPA
