Paris 2024 Day 12: Five Things We Learned

Marit limps to the medal ceremony

Marit Bouwmeester celebrated so hard after crossing the finish line of the medal race that she injured her foot and was limping to the medal ceremony, the press conference and her celebration party in downtown Marseille. Bouwmeester has always been known as a serious competitor, obsessed with every detail of the campaign. But becoming a mother of Jessie Mae, now two years old, has brought out a different side of the Dutch sailing legend. “I think sometimes at the Olympics you can get too serious too quickly, so it’s nice to have a distraction with Jessie Mae. Then you also have the lack of sleep and the loss of energy, but I’m grateful to be a mum and an athlete. She makes everything so small. I told her I’m sailing in the Olympics, but she said: ‘No, you’re just sailing a boat.’”

Peru wins its fifth Olympic medal – ever

Asked how many medals Peru had won across the whole history of the modern Olympic Games, Stefano Peschiera replied: “I know that I have won the fifth. I have heard that a stadium will be named after me.” By the way, if that sounds like he’s showing off or a big head, he’s not. No one is humbler or more grateful for what he has achieved than Peschiera. The Peruvian triumphed in a light-wind match race where there was the closest of four-battles for the bronze medal, between Peru, Hungary, Norway and Great Britain. For a while he didn’t know what he had just achieved. “I try to be a perfectionist so I’m never going to celebrate until I know that that’s my medal so I think that’s what got me here. I wanted to ask my coach and when he confirmed it, I had a rollercoaster of emotions. During the tense battle, the on-the-water umpires were frequently ruling against the sailors for exceeding the bounds of Rule 42 which governs how much kinetics the sailors are permitted to use in order to make the boat go faster. “The penalties felt like a dagger in the heart, but it’s part of the sport and we keep fighting, it was tough. It’s the first medal for Peru in 32 years so it means a lot. It’s been the only medal of these Games and we had a lot of chances in other sports. So falling short of a medal would have been a disaster for us and I think this will make our country happy.”

Pavlos Kontides wins Cyprus its second Olympic medal – ever

At London 2012, Pavlos Kontides became a national hero when he won a silver medal, his island nation’s first ever Olympic medal in any sport. Now he has done it again, Cyprus’s second ever Olympic medal. The last time he stood on the podium, a postage stamp was printed in his honour. What this time? A hero’s welcome awaits him back home. But Kontides is back to reality with a bump. “I’m not going to Paris, not going to the closing ceremony. I’m going back home tomorrow to the family. It’s not fair to be away any longer from my young son.”

Kontides silver continues a long line of success for his training group

A long time ago Pavlos Kontides joined a training group of sailors from small European nations, to see if they could work together to take on the big sailing nations. The first Olympic success came in London with Kontides silver medal. Then Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic won back-to-back silvers at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Now Kontides adds another silver to make it four in a row for the training group formed many years ago by inspirational coach Jozo Jakelic.

Four in a row for Australia

As Kontides pointed out with a wry chuckle, the reason why it has been a string of silvers for him and his training group is that Australia keeps on winning the gold. Now it’s four in a row for the Boxing Kangaroo, after Tom Slingsby, Tom Burton and, as of today, two consecutive wins for Matt Wearn. There are a plenty of other world-class talents in the Aussie squad so, if Wearn decides to come back for Los Angeles 2028, his first task will be to earn national selection ahead of those teammates aiming to knock him off his perch.

written by Andy Rice