Brazilian Robert Scheidt reached the last race, at Enoshima Bay, with chances of becoming the Brazilian with the highest number of medals in the Olympics. But he finished 9th in the “medal race”, the last race in the laser category this Sunday (1), and was 8th overall, finishing without a medal. The gold went to the Australian Matt Wear, the silver went to the Croatian Tonci Stipanovic and the bronze went to the Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard.
The Brazilian did not hide his frustration after the result of the final race. “I’m feeling a little frustrated, the day wasn’t very good, I didn’t sail well, I wish I could have sailed a lot better,” he said. “I would have liked to have finished with a medal, but I didn’t. The sport is like that, if you don’t take advantage of your opportunity, others do,” he added.
Scheidt arrived in the last race in sixth place overall and could even win a silver medal, depending on the combinations of results. The Brazilian, however, did not have a good day and could not be at the top at any point in the race – his best position throughout the competition was fourth place.
After the week of competitions, Robert said he was satisfied with what he presented in Tokyo – his seventh participation in the Olympic Games. “I leave here with my soul washed, with the feeling that I made the best preparation I could, I tried my best this week,” he commented.
A REGATTA
The start had a strong pace and Scheidt was placed in fourth place, close to the boats that led the start of the race. From then on, he struggled to catch the most direct wind on his boat and ended up dropping to fifth place. As they passed the first mark, Scheidt continued to struggle and was in last place. The leaders were Frenchman Jean Baptiste Bernaz-FRA, Philipp Buhul-ALE and Kaarle Tapper-FIN. The podium was composed by the Australian, the Croatian and the bronze would be with the Norwegian
In the second marking, Scheidt got a position and passed in ninth. The top three remained unchanged and, consequently, the podium formation as well. Without being able to develop and surpass the opponents, remaining in ninth place, without much prospect of improvement.
In the final stretch of the race, between the third and fourth markings, the Brazilian was even further behind and was in tenth place and had practically no chance of reaching the podium. At this point in the race, the lead was the Australian Wearn followed by the French Bernaz and the German Buhl closed the top three.
In the race’s shorter finishing leg, the Frenchman regained the lead and won the medal race. Australian Matt Wearn was second and German Philipp Buhl third.
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