“I think the Olympics is probably the biggest challenge you can have in sailing and I think that is what keeps drawing me back.”
In just four weeks time, the London 2012 silver medalist Jonas
Høgh-Christensen (DEN) will be heading into his fourth Olympic Games,
after making another comeback campaign.
“It’s the biggest challenge I can put upon myself. And I really enjoy that challenge and working against those goals and being told you won’t be able to do this and then doing it anyway. I like that.”
Experience is the key word for Høgh-Christensen regarding competing in Rio. “If you have superior speed you will do well. But if we all show up and go about the same speed, I think experience will be key. I have been there and know what it takes. I am also probably stronger all round so will be hoping for a bit of everything.”
He also says it was simply the love of the sport that brought him back. “Many people think I have an axe to grind, that I need to come back and try and win the Olympics. There is no doubt that is the goal but it is actually the love of the sport that brought me back. I really do enjoy sailing. I think the Finn is the most competitive class for guys my size. And I think it is a lot of fun.”
Høgh-Christensen did his first Olympics in Athens in 2004. He had just turned 23 and was the youngest guy in the Finn class. “I actually did quite well in a couple of races. Looking back at it, one of the main things was that I wasn’t in good enough shape.” But he had no expectations, finished ninth and was pretty happy.
At Beijing in 2008, “I came in as one of the favourites and had a really bad start to the event and ended up for me, a disappointing sixth. I ended up taking two or three years off and went back into the Finn class to run for London.” During those ‘three years off’ he also won his second Finn world championship, with hardly any training. It proved to everyone that he was still hungry for success as well as obscenely talented.
In London, “I think we managed to give Ben [Ainslie] probably the biggest run for his money ever. So that is sort of what we are trying to do again. I am just four years older, my body is a bit more crooked, but I am that more experienced as well.”
“I think it is going to be very different from London. It is probably going to be a little lighter. It is going to be a lot trickier; we are going to see higher scores. But I think we will see some fierce competition. Hopefully we will have the wind and weather with us and we will get some good races in. I think where that was almost a given in London, it might be a little bit more risky for Rio.”
“It is very common for the Finn class to be very fierce on that water. People shout and yell at each other and it will almost be like gladiators fighting to the death. But once we get in, we are all friends and people go for a beer and we still have a good time.”
He knows the competition will be tougher than ever, with a lot of old and new talented sailors to line up against. “The depth is big and the class is growing. It is growing because it is very physical. And it is a good fun boat where you can be strong and you can be big and you don’t have to be on a diet to go sailing. You can actually go to the gym and work hard. If you look at most of the Finn sailors they actually look like rugby players.”
One of the main obstacles for Finn sailors heading to Rio is of course Giles Scott (GBR). “Giles is a very good sailor. He is a little different to Ben. I think where Ben’s strength was his tactical and strategic abilities, Giles’ big force is his size and his physical strength. He is a very technical sailor, he sails the boat really well. He doesn’t take too many chances, he just goes fast and tries to stay out of trouble and he has been doing that really well for the last couple of years.”
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