QINGDAO: Anna Tunnicliffe of the United States came from behind in the final to win the women's Laser Radial class Tuesday at the Beijing Olympic Games sailing competition in Qingdao.

Gintare Volungeviciute took silver in the women's Laser Radial for Lithuania's first sailing medal in an Olympics, while China's Xu Lijia took bronze.

The medal race was held in light and shifting winds at Qingdao, the sailing venue about 500km south of Beijing.

Sailor Anna Tunnicliffe of the US races for her gold medal in the Laser Radial class at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 19, 2008 in Qingdao. [Agencies]

"It hasn't really hit," said British-born Tunnicliffe, 25, with a huge American flag draped over her shoulders after the first US sailing gold of the Beijing Games.

Tunnicliffe, who moved to the United States with her family at the age of 12 and later became a citizen, had enough points in nine preliminary races to assure her at least a medal after the final, which counts double. Early in the race, it looked like she would be lucky to get silver.

"It was a little too exciting," she said just after the finish. "I had a really bad start. It was very hard to focus when my competitors were gaining points on me."

At the end of the first of four legs in the medal race, she was eighth out of the 10 boats that made the final, and at end of the next leg she was next to last. Then, heading up on the third leg, she spotted a wind shift and set off on a different course than most of the fleet.

"I wasn't winning at that point and I saw this big left puff, and I went like 'here goes'." I had to. I mean I was guaranteed a medal, and that meant a lot, so it was a risk worth taking," she said. "I went left and moved to the front of the fleet."

The gamble paid off. And at the end of the third leg, she had climbed to No 3, and gained one more spot on the final leg to finish second, behind Volungeviciute.

After taking silver, Volungeviciute seemed bewildered by the rush of media attention, telling Chinese officials, "I need to change clothes" and moving away from the reporters. "It's procedure," said the official, leading her back to the media zone.

"I worked very hard for this," she said. "I am also very happy to get the first Olympic sailing medal for my country."

The Chinese celebrated their country's third-ever Olympic sailing medal by throwing the medalist, Xu, off the dock into the water.

Xu, who along with windsurfer Yin Jian was one of two strong Chinese sailing medal hopes going into the Games, was cheered on loudly by home fans on the main breakwater at the Olympic Sailing Center.

China has never won Olympic sailing gold, although Yin could end that drought today when she takes a five-point lead into the medal race.

The Laser Radial class was introduced for the first time at these Olympics in place of the Europe dinghy.

Agencies