So agonisingly close, yet so far.

Peter Bromby and Lee White, their Olympic medal hopes already dashed by a start line collision yesterday, wrapped up a memorable regatta today with a marvellous fourth place finish in the 11th and final race.

But as impressive as that result looked on paper, ultimately it wasn't enough.

Their finishing flourish could do nothing to improve an overnight standing of fourth in a fiercely competitive Star Class that featured some of the world's best-known sailors.

Fourth in an Olympic Games is arguably the most gut-wrenching finish of all.

While those just above them reaped gold, silver and bronze, the two Bermudians will leave these Games with little other than memories and regrets.

Skipper Bromby proved yet again that on his day he can match any sailor in the world.

He and White's sole consolation was a performance which ranked above any other in local sailing's Olympic history, including a victory in race six -- only the second by Bermudians in an Olympic regatta.

Kirk Cooper with crew Penny Simmons and Conrad Soares won a Dragon class race in Tokyo in 1964 on their way to a fifth place finish overall.

Bermuda's Tornado pair Alan Burland and Chris Nash also placed fifth in the Los Angeles Games in 1984, just 2.10 points out of a medal position. Entering the final race in third, they were thwarted by a lump of seaweed which wrapped around their leeward rudder, and as the Australians cruised past them, so their medal hopes sank.

Bromby and White must now know exactly how they felt after they were dealt their own slice of misfortune on the start line of race nine, the second of three races yesterday.

Heading to the line in perfect position, their path was blocked by rival medal contenders Brazil and Australia, and the collision with the Aussies that followed knocked the Bermuda boat out of the race.

As expected, a race jury ruled late yesterday that Australians Colin Beashel and David Giles were at fault and thus disqualified. Bermuda's redress, it was decided, would be average points from race one to race 10, excluding the fateful ninth.

That calculation worked out at 6.3, and while it was substantially better than the 17 points with which Bermuda had inititially been tagged for a DNF, it wasn't enough.

As Bromby pointed out, he was not only in position to set up a top three finish but also to beat all three eventual medallists -- a result which could have radically changed the standings.

However, Bromby and White retired to the Games Village on Friday night believing a first or second in the final race might still rekindle their hopes.

It wasn't until revised standings were published shortly before race 11 that they realised they were out of the hunt.

Brazil, Great Britain and the USA were all assured of medals, the colour of which hinged on today's finale.

When Brazilians Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira went over the line early in today's dramatic last race and were slapped with the maximum 17 points, the battle for gold boiled down to a fight between Americans Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedah and Britons Ian Walker and Mark Clovell.

The Americans clinched it with a second place behind the Canadians, just ahead of the Brits who pipped Bromby to the line by 14 seconds. Bermuda had been running third for almost all of the race.

Thus US took gold and Britain the silver with the bronze going to Brazil whose final points tally of 39 was just 6.3 less than Bermuda.

Bromby was always confident the race committee would rule for him after Friday's calamity.

"I do think we'll get it,'' he said on Friday night. "There's no reason why they shouldn't give it to us. We were fouled, arguably twice, on the start line. Right after we got hit we realised we had damage to our mainsail. A few minutes later it broke down to the point that we couldn't race at all.

Bromby comes so close "They put us out of the race and that was unfortunate because we could have done very well.

"We had a pretty good start lined up and two guys who were in the first three, Brazil and Australia, both fouled us. As a result of trying to avoid them, we just screwed up our start. Tactically we were in a great position.'' Earlier, the Bermuda pair had drawn on all their reserves to dig themselves out of a hole in race eight.

Languishing in 13th place around the first and second marks, they gradually fought back to place seventh.

"We milked that race for as much as we could,'' admitted Bromby. "We had a terrible first beat, but we got back into it.'' That spirit typified their performance this week, but in the end it wasn't quite enough.

So near: Skipper Peter Brombie (top) and crew Lee White battle to the finish line in Star Class Olympic racing earlier this week in Sydney Harbour. In the end, the Bermudians fell one place short of a bronze medal in the best finish ever by Bermuda in an Olympic sailing regatta.