(QINGDAO, August 18) -- Gold was Australia's for the taking in Qingdao on Monday, August 18, and take it they did: sweeping the 470 (Two Person Dinghy) with a combined margin of 41 net points over the second-place finishers.

　　With disqualification the only thing standing in the way of gold for Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia in the Men's 470, the pair put an exclamation mark on their victory by finishing first in the medal race. Wilmot and Page, who won the 2004, 2005, and 2007 World Champions but had never won at the Olympics, took over first place after the third race and never looked back, building an insurmountable 22 point lead before the final race and winning with 44 points overall.

　　Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield of Great Britain jumped from fourth to second (75 net points) after a third-place finish in the medal race and Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset of France (78 points) held off Sven and Kalle Coster of the Netherlands for bronze with a better finish on the final day of racing.

　　Despite a ninth-place finish in the medal race, Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson won the second 470 gold of the Olympics with 43 points overall, matching the gold won by the Australian Men's 470 pair just one hour earlier.

　　Rechichi and Parkinson went into the final race with an 18-point lead over Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout of the Netherlands, who finished sixth in the medal race and won silver with 53 points overall. Fernanda Oliviera and Isabel Swan of Brazil won the medal race and the bronze medal with 60 net points.

　　Though the boats in the 49er (Skiff) class did not race on Monday, gold was awarded to Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen of Denmark who had to wait overnight for the ruling on protests lodged against them after Sunday's medal race. Athens 2004 Olympic gold medalists Iker Martinez de Lizarduy and Xabier Fernandez of Spain took silver and German brothers Jan Peter and Hannes Peckolt won bronze.

　　Star (Men's Keelboat)

　　Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden won race six today to take the regatta lead. Percy and Simpson got 11 points in Monday's racing moving them into second place. The French pair Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau are third overall.

　　The day's biggest comeback was made by No. 1 ranked Poland's Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki. They recovered from 13th around the first mark in race seven to finish in third.

　　Tornado (Multihull Mixed)

　　Spaniards Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz were tied at 20 points with Australians Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby in the overall lead after the three Tornado class races held on Course Area E today.

　　The Spaniards won race seven, the last of the day, in which the Australians came in second. They are both 12 points ahead of third placed Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis from Greece.

　　Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola of Argentina and Francesco Marcolini and Edoardo Bianchi of Italy each have 33 points. Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz from Germany follow with 34.

　　Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy)

　　World No. 1 Anna Tunnicliffe from the United States regained her Laser Radial series lead despite a 15th placing in racing.

　　Tunnicliffe shrugged off the race seven result and topped up with a pair of second places in races eight and nine to finish as one of only three sailors in the running for gold. She used her race 15 result as a drop and goes into medal race with a seven point advantage over yesterday's leader Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania.

　　Volungeviciute also used race seven as her drop after finishing in 17th place. She too came back, with sixth and fourth-place finishes, not straying too far from her nearest rival.

　　World No. 2 Chinese Xu Lijia came out strongly, scoring a bullet in race seven. She finished the day with an 11th and a sixth to be third overall going in to the medal race. Only Xu and Volungeviciute can challenge Tunnicliffe for gold.

　　World No. 3 Sarah Blanck of Australia moved up to fourth place overall after her first win of the series in race eight. She finished eighth and fifth in the other two races but is 21 points adrift of Tunnliciffe and out of contention for the gold medal.

　　Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy)

　　He missed a medal in Athens, he has struggled to win major regattas, but his talent is unquestionable and on Monday Paul Goodison of Great Britain came of age, his 1-4-6 results all but guaranteeing him a gold medal.

　　The ISAF World Ranked No.3, will add to Great Britain's already impressive collection of Yngling and Finn gold medals and Men's 470 Silver. His results Monday means he has amassed an 18 point lead over nearest rival Swedish Rasmus Myrgren going into tomorrow's double-points medal race.

　　Myrgren and a few others will battle it out for the silver and bronze medals, including current third placed overall Gustavo Lima from Portugal, Athens bronze medalist Vasilij Zbogar from Slovenia who is in fourth place and fifth placed Deigo Romero from Italy.

　　Early medal contender, Julio Alsogaray of Argentina started his day well with a second place, but 32nd and 16th places in the later races have almost killed any chance he has of winning the bronze medal.

　　Men's RS:X (Windsurfer)

　　Tom Ashley of New Zealand leads a group of five competitors in the hunt for a gold medal with Wednesday's medal race looming.

　　The New Zealander is three points ahead of Nick Dempsey from Great Britain and four ahead of Julien Bontemps from France, both also favored for a medal with one more race before Wednesday.

　　Others in contention for a medal at this stage include Shahar Zubari of Israel whose light wind superiority had him in the regatta lead until two days ago. Ricardo Santos of Brazil is fifth.

　　Women's RS:X (Windsurfer)

　　Three-time Olympic medalist Alessandra Sensini of Italy took the lead from Chinese Yin Jian on Monday with the double-points medal race scheduled for Wednesday.

　　In eight to 15 knot shifty winds and big seas, Sensini was at her best and scored a 2-5 result to sail past Yin who is at her best in light air.

　　Yin is only two points off the lead after 8-8 results in races eight and nine. Conditions will favour Yin on Tuesday as weather forecasters predict winds will diminish later in the day.

　　Another light-air performer, Jessica Crisp of Australia dropped two spots on Monday. World No. 1, Marina Alabau of Spain, took over third place from Crisp, while Bryony Shaw of Great Britain moved into fourth place, leaving the Australian in fifth.

　　Only 11 points separate the top five sailors, all of whom were favored for medals before the Games.