Becker, Thomson Make Splash in Olympic Regatta

When Allison Jolly won the United States’ only gold medal at Pusan, South Korea, in 1988, she made the point that American women will be taken seriously in Olympic sailing.

Note the names Courtenay Becker and Wendy Thomson, who won their fleets impressively in three days of the 30th annual Olympic Classes Regatta at Long Beach, which concluded Sunday.

In ‘88, Jolly, who lives in Long Beach, won the new women’s 470 class with Lynne Jewell as crew, but she didn’t compete in her hometown event. With the next competition at Barcelona still two years away, she hasn’t decided whether to go for the gold again, while Becker and Thomson think of little else.

They’re campaigning to compete in two more women’s classes to be added in ’92. Becker, 24, from Rye, N.Y., already is a force in one--the single-handed Europe dinghy. She won six of her seven races (with one throwout) for a score of 0.0 points.

More significant, while the 11-foot boat is an old European class, it’s new to Americans. But Becker placed second in two major events in Sweden last summer, including the world championships.

“It’s the perfect boat for me,” she said.

Thomson, 34, of Darien, Conn., and Scott Steele--not a new name--won the women’s and men’s sailboard titles, which also qualified them for the Goodwill Games at Seattle in August.

Steele, 32, of Annapolis, Md., won a silver medal in the ’84 Olympics at Long Beach, then placed fifth in the ’88 trials won by Mike Gebhardt, who went on to win a bronze at Pusan.

In this event, Steele, the graybeard of a young man’s class, and Gebhardt, 24, swapped wins until Gebhardt was eliminated when he hit a mark in the final race, which Steele won. Two ’88 Olympians, Brian Ledbetter of San Diego in Finn and Pete Melvin of Westminster in Tornado catamarans, won their classes easily.