How many Olympic medals are in the water in Taranto

There are less than 20 days left until the ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix, scheduled for the weekend of September 23-24 on the flats in front of Mar Grande in Taranto, the fourth of twelve events scheduled in the fourth season of SailGP. .

Many international sailing champions, both male and female, participated in the 10 teams representing Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. In the SailGP stage, which will be held in “Bahr Al Watan”, for which different types of tickets are available sailgp.com/races/it/season-4/italy-sail-grand-prix-taranto/overview/ There will also be Italian Jacopo Blazzi, coach of the Swiss SailGP crew. Always into high-speed sailing, as a sailor he boasts a third place in the European 49er Championships, to which several top ten finishes in world competitions have been added. He is part of the Luna Rossa squad, with which he made his debut in the 2021 America’s Cup campaign in Auckland.

At the Taranto Regattas, in the presence of the Aragon Castle, it will be possible to see world-famous sailors participating in the competitions, including 22 Olympic medalists (16 men and 6 women), who in total have achieved 40 successes at the Games. These include Ben Ainslie, Peter Birling, James Spithill and Tom Slingsby.

Ben Ainslie, the English driver of the Emirates Great Britain Sailing Team, is the sailor with the most prestigious Olympic medals in the history of sailing (five in total: four gold and one silver). Among other professional successes, he boasts an America’s Cup win (in 2013) and 11 World Championships. His sporting achievements earned him the title of Sir Baronet of the United Kingdom. He achieved his first SailGP success on the 2020 Sydney stage, but seeing him climb to the top of the podium is no longer as frequent as it was when he was racing in the Olympic classes. “As we know, with SailGP, the margins between success and failure are razor-thin,” Sir Ben Ainslie said recently.

Kiwi Peter Burling is the winner of the last two America’s Cups as captain of Emirates Team New Zealand, and is sitting on three Olympic medals (one gold and two silver) and six world titles in the 49er class. Burling is a driver for Team New Zealand SailGP (of which he is also co-CEO), for which he boasts success in four events.

Australian James Spithill, Luna Rossa’s skipper, has seven America’s Cup appearances, winning on two occasions (2010 with BMW Oracle Racing and 2013 with Oracle Team USA). Thanks to these victories, he and Russell Coates, CEO of SailGP, are considered among the most successful America’s Cup captains. In the Ionian waters, he, as CEO and driver, will defend the colors of the US SailGP Team. He is very strict with himself first and foremost, and does not make excuses in case of defeat: “Sport is very honest, and the results speak for themselves,” is one of his most famous sayings.

James Spithill’s compatriot Tom Slingsby is the man to beat at SailGP. Driver and CEO of the Australian SailGP team, he won all three of his first three seasons. After dominating the Olympic Laser category to win six world titles and an Olympic gold medal at London 2012, he was instrumental in a tactician role, alongside James Spithill, in Oracle Team USA’s epic win at the 2013 America’s Cup.

The six participating Olympic champions in SailGP account for 11 total podium appearances at the Games. On board the Emirates Great Britain Sailing Team, alongside Ben Ainslie, is the Englishwoman Hannah Mills, who alone carries three medals around her neck: gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and silver at London 2012, again in the 470 category. Other Olympic champions with two medals For each: Brazilian Kahina Kunze, gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 in the 49erFX, on Team Germany SailGP; New Zealander Joe Ale, who won gold in London 2012 and silver in Rio 2016 in the 470, from the New Zealand SailGP team; Danish Anne-Marie Rendom, bronze at Rio 2016 and gold at Tokyo 2020 in the Laser Radial class, on the Rockwool Danish SailGP team.

Among the Olympic champions appearing on the SailGP F50s, there are also two rowing gold medalists: England’s Matt Gutrell (Rio 2016) on the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team and New Zealander Joe Sullivan (London 2012) on the German SailGP Team. .