'Today's win makes up for the first race when she was pipped right at the end'
Lee Lai-shan is back where she belongs. For the first time since dominating the windsurfing event at the 1996 Atlanta Games, San San is back on top of the standings.
Hong Kong's golden girl stormed to the top of the overall standings in the women's Mistral event after winning race four yesterday. Although overjoyed with her performance, the Hong Kong camp downplayed all talk of San San winning a gold medal.
'It is nice to be in the lead but it is far too early to talk about medals. We have a long, long way to go,' cautioned Hong Kong coach Rene Appel. 'We have only completed four races. There are seven more to go and the whole competition is still wide open.'
San San is tied with defending gold medallist Alessandra Sensini of Italy on 17 points. But the Hong Kong ace takes top spot due to her better results in the previous races. In third place is France's Faustine Merret with 20 points. China's Yin Jian is fourth on 25.
There is no hiding the fact that San San is right on target towards making a remarkable comeback. Four years ago, her bid sank in the waters off Rushcutter's Bay in Sydney Harbour. She did not win any races and finished sixth.
Not content to call it a day, the 33-year-old Cheung Chau native put her heart and soul into preparing for a fourth and final Olympic assault. And yesterday's result was proof that all the hard work and dedication was paying dividends.
