Former University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine sailor Shandy Buckley is bound for the Olympics. Buckley and her Yngling team from New Zealand finished sixth at last week's ISAF World Championships in Portugal giving them and their country a berth in the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

More than 1,300 sailors from 76 nations competed at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships, June 28-July 13 in Cascais. The Championships are the principal qualification regatta for the 2008 Olympics, with 75 percent of all national places decided.

Buckley and her teammates Sharon Ferris and Raynor Smeal finished sixth overall in the Yngling class, well inside the top 10 countries earning Olympic berths in Qingdao, China, where the Games yachting will be staged. A Yngling is a three-person boat that received the ISAF international class status in 1979 and was chosen as the Olympic women's keelboat for 2004 and 2008.

Buckley appeared in nearly 30 regattas for the University of Hawai`i from 2003-06, including four appearances in the nationals. The native of Whangarei, New Zealand, earned all-conference honors in the spring of 2006 and competed last fall before leaving UH with a year of eligibility remaining.

"Shandy was asked by Sharon Ferris, the skipper of the New Zealand Yngling team, to join them last year," UH head coach Andy Johnson said. "It was a difficult decision for Shandy and she left school to pursue her dream of sailing in the Olympics. It looks like she made the right decision and we're extremely happy for her."

Buckley is not the first UH sailor to compete on the Olympic stage. Former All-American John Myrdal competed in the Laser class for Team USA at the 2000 Sydney Games.

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