Matt Wearn the first to win back-to-back golds in Men's Dinghy

In some ways his first Olympic victory was more remarkable because Wearn had a terrible first day at Tokyo after suffering gear failure from his supplied equipment. The Australian had a mountain to climb yet somehow hauled himself back into medal contention, especially as the wind picked up and he was able to exert his super strength in full hiking conditions. In fact he managed to win gold with the Medal Race to spare.

His path to glory was simpler in Marseille, yet he didn’t quite manage to square away the gold before the medal race. He matched raced his rival, Pavlos Kontides, taking the fight to the Cypriot even before the start gun had fired. Wearn managed to win the medal race, and so his points advantage by the end of the regatta was 16 points ahead of Kontides who crossed the line in second. 

Wearn compared his two Olympic victories: “Tokyo was a pretty special time in the sense that no one had really raced each other for a long time [due to COVID isolation], but I think some the conditions here in Marseille were maybe tougher and the fleet more competitive, so that’s probably why the points were closer here.”

Also remarkable about Wearn’s achievement is that Australia has now taken gold at four consecutive Games. It started with Tom Slingsby’s runaway victory at London 2012, then Tom Burton’s last-gasp Medal Race win at Rio 2016, and now Wearn’s wins at Tokyo and Paris. Wearn paid tribute to the team behind his success and in particular to his coaches, Michael Blackburn and Rafa Trujillo. 

Blackburn won a bronze in the men’s singlehander at Sydney 2000 and has since seen others through the programme and on to gold medal success. Trujillo took the silver medal in the Finn dinghy for Spain at Athens 2004 and has been working closely with Wearn in the build-up to Paris 2024. “Blackers [Michael Blackburn] has put together a fantastic programme along with the National Training Centre in Sydney and it’s a high pressure environment at times but that helps breed the top sailors coming out of Australia,” said Wearn.

The tall Australian has long been strong in the full power hiking conditions but he has proved equally potent in the lighter winds this past week in Marseille and Wearn acknowledged the performance gains he has made with Trujillo in the lower end of the wind range.

Robert Scheidt, the five-time Olympic medallist from Brazil, was in Marseille to witness today’s drama. Scheidt won ILCA 7 gold at Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 and he was impressed with the scale of Wearn’s victory. “Matt has dominated this Olympic cycle and he has sailed another solid series. It’s amazing how much Matt can peak at the right time. He’s very cool under pressure and just very consistent, he makes very few mistakes.”

Wearn will now take a few weeks to enjoy his Marseille victory. And then we’ll see if the Australian makes a bid to come back for yet another campaign, a possible tilt at a third Olympic title in Los Angeles 2028.