QINGDAO, China: Australia scored double gold in Olympic sailing yesterday, with Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page winning in the men’s double-handed 470 dinghies and the duo of Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson claiming the top spot in the same boat for women.

In the men’s 470s, Britain’s Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield took silver, and Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset of France won bronze. In the women’s 470, the Dutch team of Marcelien De Koning and Lobke Berkhout clinched silver, with Brazil’s Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan taking bronze. Wilmot and Page had the medal wrapped up on overall points ahead of the final, making their win of yesterday’s medal race seem more like a 28-minute victory lap.

“We didn’t have to do what we did today. We were relaxed, we had a bit of fun, and it was all right,” Page told The Associated Press. “That’s the art of it, but it’s a bit harder to do when there’s high pressure.”

Wilmot was happy that the race is now over.

“I was looking forward to getting it over and done with, getting a medal around the neck, and then really relaxing,” Wilmot said.

Rogers was pleased with the silver after the British team’s weak start in the preliminary series. “It’s been really stressful. It’s a long event, which I’m glad we got it over and done with and got a silver, which looked a long, long way off,” he said. The Australian women also had a virtually unassailable 18-point lead over the Dutch after the 10-race series leading into the medal race, which counts double. They finished ninth out of the 10-boat field that made it to the finals, good enough to secure the gold.

“When we crossed the line, we were screaming and crying and shouting. The feeling has not sunk in yet.” said Rechichi, 22. “This is our first Olympic campaign. ... I don’t think we’ve even felt an Olympic medal before.”

Because of the light summer winds in Qingdao, the sailing venue about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Beijing, many of the sailors cut their own weight dramatically to gain an edge. Now, they say, it’s time for a feast.

“We’re going to have a buffet with lots of food. We plan on getting fat,” joked Page.

Dutch silver medalist de Koning in the women’s 470 had a similar plan. “Tonight, we are going to eat a lot of chocolate because we have lost so much weight,” said de Koning.

In the men’s medal race, Tetsuya Matsunaga and Taro Ueno of Japan finished second, for a final place of seventh overall, while the British silver medalists were No. 3 after steadily fighting their way back from ninth place at the end of the first leg.

For the women, the Brazilian pair won the medal race, giving them the bronze. Medal races in the men’s Laser and the Laser Radial for women were slated for today.

American favorite Anna Tunnicliffe lead overall after nine Laser Radial races, seven points ahead of Lithuanian Gintare Volungeviciute and 11 points ahead of China’s Xu Lijia. Britain’s Paul Goodison seemed all but assured of a medal, with an 18 point lead on Rasmus Myrgren of Sweden and 21 points ahead of Portugal’s Gustavo Lima after nine men’s Laser races.

Danes win Olympic

49er sailing gold

Meantime, Denmark’s Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen were awarded the gold medal in the 49er skiff class yesterday after a jury rejected a protest over a broken mast, a borrowed boat and capsized vessels in rough waters of the Yellow Sea.

“This is surreal. What a drama,” Ibsen, 26, said after Sunday’s victory was confirmed. “I couldn’t have written a greater thriller.” It was their best-ever placing in any international regatta.

The silver medal goes to Spain’s Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez, who won the title in Athens four years ago, and the bronze to German brothers Jan-Peter Peckolt and Hannes Peckolt.

Three protests were filed: The race started too late, after a 4:30 p.m. deadline; that the conditions were too rough for racing; and that the Danes illegally changed boats when they borrowed a Croatian skiff.

“We sailed really well, we won gold out on the water, and then we had to wait in the protest room,” said Warrer, 29. “It turned out the right way. The right decision.”

The first two protests were dismissed Sunday. When deliberations on the boat change dragged into the early hours of today, the jury took a break, leaving the Danes not knowing if they had won the gold.

Silver medalist Martinez said Spain protested because they did know that they were racing the Danes, since their boat was marked CRO for Croatia. But he said he accepted the jury’s ruling.

“You’re down, you’re up, you’re down,” Ibsen said. “You think you win, you lose. In my heart I hoped for it, but that’s one thing. Another thing is what will happen in the jury room.”

The Danes had an 11-point lead in overall points after 12 races over Italian brothers Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello, with Australian world champions Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin third overall. The Aussies were three points further back and just one ahead of Martinez and Fernandez and the German brothers.

The Danes needed to finish seventh in the 10-boat fleet in the medal race to win. But wind that had failed Qingdao in previous days picked up with a vengeance on Sunday, churning the waters of the Yellow Sea. During the practice ahead of the start, the Danes were horrified to see their mast break and their prospects for Olympic gold seemingly vanished.

“Right when the mast broke, I thought it was all over,” Ibsen said. “But never give up.”