- Matt Wearn was brutally robbed of gold on Wednesday
- He led comfortably before the final race was abandoned
- Fans all say the same thing about sailing on social media
Matt Wearn was cruelly denied the Olympic gold medal on Wednesday despite coming close to victory.
The Australian was on course for a second gold medal in the men’s sailing event in France, having won the title in Tokyo three years ago, when the race was stopped by officials due to weak winds.
Wearn only had to make sure that his rival Pavlos Kontides did not beat him by more than seven positions to secure the gold medal. Before the decision was made, he had a comfortable lead over the Cypriot.
Sailing suffered a number of delays during the Paris Olympics, causing great frustration among spectators at home.
And they went en masse to X to express their anger after the latest drama.
‘Race stopped!’ one fan shouted. ‘I don’t get it. Only one more stage to go and Matt Wearn would have won the gold.’
Another joked: ‘As a spectator sport, sailing needs something. Maybe it would work better if they allowed piracy.’
“Do they ever actually finish a sailing race?” a third fan shouted angrily. “Everyone I’ve seen has been abandoned.”
Matt Wearn was brutally robbed of a sailing gold medal on Wednesday
The Australian had a comfortable lead before the race was abandoned
‘Matt Wearn is absolutely filthy. Rightly so.’
Wearn was seen slamming his hand into his boat in frustration as his parents, who looked on, shared their thoughts on the controversy to Nine.
“It’s crazy. He had it under control,” said father Brad. “He was right where he needed him to be. And yes, they pulled out of the race.
“He was literally what seemed like 20 or 30 meters from the top. Mark. Another upwind and Kontides was behind him. Yeah, he had it in the bag, but we reset and it looks like we’re going again.”
His mother, Karen, added: ‘Well, the wind obviously shifted too far, and there was a disadvantage for some sailors on one side of the course compared to the other, and they decided they had to call the race off. So it was fair to everyone.’