BEIJING, Aug 18: Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen were presented with the Olympic 49er sailing gold medal on Monday after a protest was dismissed.

The protest by the race committee followed an extraordinary medal race on Sunday in which Warrer and Ibsen, leading their nearest rivals by 11 points, sailed in Croatia's boat after their mast broke on the way to the start.

The 49er fleet is a one-design class, meaning all the boats are virtually identical, and the Danes could have been disqualified on technicalities, rather than having been deemed to have enjoyed any unfair advantage.

“I can confirm that the protest against Denmark has been dismissed and that no penalties will be applied,” jury member John Doerr told reporters. “The medal placings remain unaltered.”

Spain's Iker Martinez and Xavier Fernandez, the defending champions, retain silver and German brothers Jan Peter Peckolt and Hannes Peckolt win bronze.

The Spanish Sailing Federation said it would appeal the ruling to the International Olympic Committee though it had little hope of success.

The jury, who sat on Sunday evening and formed again on Monday, finally reached a decision some 19 hours after the medal race had finished.

—Reuters