Four years of training and four years of careful preparation and it’s come down to this: 23 Finn heroes lining up against each other in front of the awesome spectacle that is Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janiero. The 2016 Olympics for the Finn class is just one day away. The training is done. Now the sailors just want the battle to begin.
Here are the 23 Finn sailors who will be going head to head over the next two weeks for the ultimate prize of Olympic gold. Only three of these sailors will win a medal in what is widely regarded as one of the toughest and most physical of Olympic events.
As he heads into his first Olympic Games, as the favourite in the Finn class, the fact that four times world champion Giles Scott (GBR) has won almost every regatta since his failure to beat Ben Ainslie (GBR) for the British place at the London 2012 Olympics means very little. Rio 2016 is just one more regatta he wants to win; perhaps more than all the rest put together, but he knows it will probably be the hardest. The others know he is the favourite, but they also know he can be beaten, and that is the challenge facing them.
New Zealand has an illustrious history in the Finn class at the Olympic Games and if recent form is a guide, Josh Junior (NZL) will be one of the medal favourites this year in Rio. Previously Russell Coutts (NZL) won gold in 1984, and John Cutler (NZL) and Craig Monk (NZL) won bronze in 1988 and 1992.
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