Two Person Dinghy (470), Women

The Dutch team of [Marcelien de Koning] and [Lobke Berkhout] had won the World Championships from 2005-07 and were heavily favored, especially so after the 2008 World Champions, Americans Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving, lost at the US Trials, and did not make the Olympic team. De Koning and Berkhout, however, were soundly defeated by the Australian crew of Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson, who won only one race, but had no finish worse than a fifth going into the medal race. The Australians placed only ninth (of 10) in the medal race, but they still won the gold medal quite easily, with the Dutch taking the silver. Oddly, of the six medalists, only Brazilian bronze medalist Fernanda Oliveira had ever before competed at the Olympics.