Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer’s quest for gold ended Wednesday at the Olympic sailing venue in Weymouth Bay, England.
The University of Hawaii graduate and her teammates, Anna Tunnicliffe (racing skipper) and Debbie Capozzi, lost to Finland in the quarterfinals of the inaugural women’s match racing competition.
Team USA, ranked No. 1 in the world, lost the first two races to their training partners Tuesday. They won Wednesday’s first race, but Finland clinched a place in the semifinals with a victory in the fourth race.
"By the time our second race started, it shifted left to a pretty steady course, maybe the steadiest I’ve seen here," Vandemoer said on the U.S. sailing website, "so it was very match-racing oriented. With flat water you’re not going to get very far apart.
"Basically, we were dead even going upwind. It was typical match racing. We closed up the distance and got really close at the leeward mark; same thing upwind. If we had another 100 yards, maybe it would have been a different result, but this is match racing.
"We are very happy for them, but obviously we are bummed."
The U.S. team will sail for fifth today.
The U.S. was shut out of Olympic sailing medals for the first time since 1936.
Tunnicliffe, who was born in England and moved to the United States when she was 12, was the only remaining American with a chance for a medal.
The 49er crew of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia sailed three laps of honor to collect the gold medal they had clinched two days earlier.
