The medal race for sailing at the Paris Olympics took a disastrous turn, literally and figuratively, when Dutch duo Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz made a dramatic mistake.
Although the pair took gold, they had to endure a scare over what appeared to be a costly mistake.
Just a few metres from the end of the race, the duo appeared to misjudge the finish line and began to drift to the right and away from the checkered markings.
The commentary team was baffled by the Dutch moving away from the finish line, as the athletes apparently thought they were safe.
“The Netherlands is in the lead,” one commentator described. “The United States is in second place, but it’s too little, too late. The Netherlands is in the lead, gaining in the early stages of this race.”
Dutch sailing team nearly lost top spot after late-race mistake in France
The Dutch were approaching the finish line with a wide lead after overcoming the adversities in the race. However, when they began to lean to the right, the Americans, who were in second place, followed them.
“Where are they going?” the commentator suddenly said. “Because the finish line is marked on the left! They’re not quite sure. I think they think they’re already finished!”
‘There was some confusion on the course. We had them here and now they had to go back to the finish line. The United States also made a mistake. And this is very serious.
Although both leading teams changed direction by mistake, this gave Sweden a chance, which took advantage of the mistake and eventually crossed the finish line first.
Unfortunately, the overall scoring system did not allow the Swedish team to take gold after winning the final race alone. However, it did allow Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler to snatch the silver medal from the Americans after they were confused by the Dutch.
As they approached the finish line, the duo began to stray from the checkered mark.
However, the Netherlands ended up with gold thanks to the overall scoring system.
Sweden and France took silver and bronze, respectively, in the event.
Meanwhile, Frenchwomen Charline Picon and Sarah Steyaert took the bronze medal.
Despite the monumental mistake, the Netherlands avoided a painful defeat after the judges calculated that they had accumulated enough points to stay on top.
“What incredible scenes were witnessed in the waters of Marseille,” said one commentator. “It was an Olympic Games to remember.”
‘We’ve had two abandoned medal races. We’ve had boats sailing on what looked like the wrong course to get to the finish line, thinking they’d thrown away the gold at the last minute, even though they’d put in a performance that allowed them to win the gold medal.
‘They’ve been there for five minutes, agonising, waiting for someone to tell them the results. And now they seem to feel relief.