In Rio the latest Grael sailing superstar Martine and her 49er FX crew Kahena Kunze only secured gold on the last beat of the Medal Race. This time it was no less of a nail-biter for her five-time Olympic medallist father Torben and her many other supporters as the brilliant Brazilians fought back from an awful start to their regatta. So two golds in a row for Martine, to add to who-knows-how-many major world and European titles already won by an extraordinary sporting family
It’s been a long journey, really a long jour- ney. It’s been seven Games since Atlanta. Every Games had a different story and a different challenge. But I made a good decision to try this one and put myself in a good shape and fight with the young guys.’ So Robert Scheidt, winner of the first ever
Laser gold medal at Atlanta 1996, bows out a quarter of a century later. ‘At that age [when Scheidt was 23 years old at his first Games] I thought 35 was an old man. Right now 35 years for me is a young man.’
All the British wanted to do was sail a
clean race, keep one eye on their closest rivals to make sure the gold medal didn’t slip from their grasp, but nothing too demanding. As we’d seen with earlier Medal Races in the regatta, however, things can unravel very quickly in the unlikeliest of circumstances. We hadn’t seen anything yet, though. Down the final run before the last turn-
ing mark GBR was in second place with the French behind them. All going to plan. But it was tight at the mark and the Brits took a wide berth, not wanting to do any- thing that could put the gold at risk. In being so conservative they dropped from second to fifth, just behind the Polish who had just passed them at the mark, still just ahead of the French. The gold was assured, while the last-mark reshuffle moved the silver from France to Poland. To France the reshuffle looked suspi-
cious. They protested the British, alleging team-racing tactics with the Polish. Within a few seconds of finishing, relief and ela- tion at winning the gold quickly turned to horror and fear that the medal might be snatched away from the British in the most controversial of circumstances. A Rule 2 allegation against the British was a serious accusation to make, although from a French perspective you can see why the British suddenly dropping places like that looked suspicious. What could possibly be in it for the British to put the gold medal in jeopardy? It didn’t make any sense. In all the confusion of this sudden controversy Mills and McIntyre never did get their moment being raised aloft by their team-mates in their victorious 470. ‘It was good that Hannah kept it together,’ said McIntyre later, ‘because I basically fell apart, to be honest.’ A hearing was quickly held, the French
protest was dismissed and the gold was confirmed for Great Britain. Amazingly there were no hard feelings. As quickly as
the controversy arose it died away again and the French appeared satisfied with their bronze while the Polish, Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar, were ecstatic with their silver. ‘We had a moment with these girls and hugged it out,’ said McIntyre. ‘They’re such fantastic competi- tors. We’ve had so many tight tussles with them. So to stand on the podium with them, that is a huge privilege for us.’ The gold medal makes Hannah Mills
the most successful female Olympic sailor, with two golds and a silver to her credit. For Eilidh McIntyre the gold had its own poignancy. She grew up in a house where she could see her father Mike McIntyre’s gold medal which he won in the Star at Seoul 1988. Now she has one of her own.
ROBERT SCHEIDT I’m sure Robert Scheidt said Rio 2016 would be his last Games, but anyway, here he was in Tokyo, hiking a Laser at 48. I remarked to the Brazilian that with his advanced years I thought it would be the stronger winds where he’d be struggling more than in the light. ‘Yeah, me too! It was the other way around and I felt I wasn’t that comfortable in the light winds. I don’t know why but my strategy wasn’t so good. I feel better with a bit more pressure.’ What also impresses me about the Brazil-
ian is his thirst for Olympic competition has endured even when he knew a medal was going to be a struggle compared with his days of dominance. ‘I definitely enjoy it a lot. My goal was to come here and create chances – and I managed to do that at my age, at the time of life when I have two kids at home. And so it was a big challenge. But I think I was successful because I was com- petitive in most conditions and I managed to create those chances. I was in the hunt!’ So will he come back? Again? ‘I would
never say never any more, but I don’t see myself in another campaign in Marseille. ‘I think this was probably the last one.
ONLY ONE MEDAL MATTERS For us in the media access to the sailors is extremely limited at an Olympic Regatta. There’s the Mixed Zone, which the sailors are required to walk through but don’t have to stop to talk to you. One sailor who always stopped – however reluctantly – was Marit Bouwmeester, the Dutch Radial sailor who came to Tokyo expectant of another gold to add to the one she won in Rio 2016. After a terrible start to the regatta Bouwmeester mounted an incredible come- back but it was never quite enough and in the end she had to settle for bronze. At the final press conference I asked her
this: ‘Marit, it seems like you’re the “comeback queen”. You put yourself in really difficult situations and then you bounce back. That happened a few times this week but in the end it wasn’t quite enough. So what’s your final thought… regret at not winning the gold or relief to win the bronze?’ Her reply: ‘It’s really hard to be satisfied
with the bronze medal. I think my way of looking at sports is that there’s only one medal that really counts. And I’ve been making too many big mistakes, especially with the black flag. I did everything I could to fight back and I know I shouldn’t be disappointed with bronze. But my philos - ophy is that it’s only one place that counts. It’s quite hard to be satisfied with bronze.’ I followed this up: ‘The rest of the world
talks about you as a three-time Olympic medallist. So how many medals have you won in your mind?’ A long pause. Then she leans forward to the microphone: ‘One.’ In other words, the silver from London 2012, the bronze from Tokyo 2020 don’t count. I also asked for a show of hands from
the medallists to indicate who would be back for the Paris 2024 Games. Only one hand went up without hesitation. Marit Bouwmeester’s. That’s how much the three-time Olympic medallist wants her ‘second’ medal. She’ll be back.
q SEAHORSE 61
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