After courtroom battle, Booth eyes Tornado medal

A medal-winning Australian yachtsman who fought a bitter court case with his former sailing partner to make the Atlanta Games, is on course to prove the selectors right after a making flying start.

Mitch Booth was taken to court by John Forbes, with whom he won bronze in Barcelona in the Tornado catamaran class, in a battle over who would get to represent Australia in Atlanta.

After winning the drawn-out case in April, Booth, 33, and his new teammate Andrew Landenberger, 27, fled their Sydney base to escape the pressure and prepare in Europe and Savannah.

"We had to get out of there,'' Booth said on Wednesday. "There was a lot of pressure. Everywhere you went someone wanted to know what was going on.

"I'm just trying to put it all behind me,'' he said. "If we'd stayed in Australia it would have been tough, but we haven't had much contact for about three months.''

Booth knows there will be a contingent in Australian yachting hoping he stumbles here, but although initially spurned, he and Landenberger have shown they are leading contenders.

They obliterated the fleet in the first race on Tuesday, then rallied from the middle of the pack to finish a solid fifth in heat two and be in second place overall.

After their tough legal fight to reach Atlanta, Booth is delighted he and his crewmate are "very competitive.''

"We've ironed out a few bugs, we know what each other is doing. I suppose it took enough to get here...we may as well make it count.''

The Australian Yachting Federation is also hoping they make a good showing after initially selecting the pair.

Forbes and his new partner Darren Bundock took Booth, Landenberger and the Federation to court seeking to have their selection over-ruled.

They argued that because Booth had sailed with different partners in two selection trials--Scott Anderson and Landenberger--he was ineligible to represent Australia.

The court ruled against Forbes and Bundock, but instructed the Federation to pay the pair $A40,000 ($32,000) they spent trying to qualify.

This story written by Reuters correspondents