Asia Rising

Japan won gold and bronze medals in the oldest Olympic class, the doublehanded 470 dinghy. Then on ‘Super Saturday’, Singapore won gold in the newest Olympic discipline, Formula Kite.

Aged just 16 years old, Max Maeder is the youngest ever winner of a world championship in Olympic sailing, and the first ever to win a gold medal for Singapore.

Aiko Saito competed in the women’s 470 class for Japan at two Olympic Games, Seoul 1988 and Atlanta 1996. She then moved into a coaching role and headed up the Japanese Olympic Sailing Team for more than a decade.

She has been in The Hague in a team support and mentoring role, and she was understandably emotional about Japan’s success in the 470.

Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka were so dominant they wrapped up the gold medal with a race to spare.

Then in the medal race Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki won the bronze medal by the skin of their teeth, beating the Austrian team on tiebreak. This double podium success is the culmination of the national team’s dedication to a class which has always held a special place in Japanese sailors’ hearts.

“These sailors originally did a lot of training together in the build-up to Tokyo 2020,” says Saito, although the commitment to 470 excellence in Japan goes way back to the 1980s.

Even today, North Sails Japan produces race winning sails for many competitors at the front of the international fleet.

Japan had been pinning its hopes on a 470 medal, possibly two, from the men’s and women’s categories at Tokyo 2020.

While that didn’t work out, the legacy of all that hard work has paid off this week in The Hague. Saito believes the shift from men’s and women’s fleets into the new 470 Mixed category has worked well for her sailors.

“The change to Mixed has made a big difference,” says Saito. “It means that maybe smaller women like Ai Kondo Yoshida [2018 women’s World Champion with Miho Yoshioka] can find a bigger [male] crew.

“And Japanese men tend to be relatively small compared with other nations. The 49er and other classes require bigger sailors but in the 470 they can find taller women and be able to compete equally. I think the 470 is great for being able to sail with the men and women both ways around in the helm and crew roles on the boat. Either male/female or female/male.”

Saito also sees other benefits to women and men working together in shared campaigns.

“Women and men sailing together in 470s, it has improved the atmosphere in the boat park, and the 470 is a good class for smaller sailors from youth classes like the Optimist.

“They might get excited about racing in the 49er but the smaller sailors realise they cannot be competitive and they quit. So the 470 is a good option for the smaller sailors.”

By Andy Rice, World Sailing Event Correspondent

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