Belgium’s road to Olympic gold: sailing
At the last Olympics in Tokyo, Belgium had its most successful Games since 1948, with a total of seven medals. This year's Paris Olympics could be even better, with plenty of Belgian candidates in the running for a medal. Today, Belga English looks at the sailing competitions.
The 10 sailing events of Paris 2024 will take place from 28 July to 8 August, not in the French capital but in Marseille on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Roucas-Blanc Marina, a point of departure for boats, has been adapted to stage the Olympic competition and renamed Marseille Marina. The Belgian delegation consists of five boats, which is an unprecedented achievement for the country.
The main medal contender is Emma Plasschaert, a two-time world champion in the ILCA 6 class – formerly known as the Laser Radial class – which features small single-handed dinghies. In 2021, Plasschaert had a first taste of the Olympics. She debuted in Tokyo with fourth place, just outside the medal positions. Three years later, the 30-year-old from Ostend is ready to do better.
“If you have finished fourth, the podium becomes your goal, it would be weird if I didn't aspire to that medal," she told Sporza. “I have become a more complete sailor, I am now more confident in conditions that suit me less: in less wind, for example."
She has also grown as a person, she said. “I can put things in perspective better. It's a privilege to represent my country at the Olympics and it doesn't feel as heavy as it did in Tokyo.”
On 1 August, Plasschaert will enter the Olympic waters for the first time, with the medal race scheduled for 6 August. If she sails to Olympic gold, she will do as well as her husband, Australian Matt Wearn.
High expectations
Paris 2024 is also the second Olympics for Anouk Geurts and Isaura Maenhaut, who participate in the 49erFX class in the women's skiff competition. In 2021, they were surprise participants at the Tokyo Games, but now expectations are higher.
Geurts and Maenhaut became European champions in May, also in France, at La Grande-Motte. They took full advantage of the absence of some major rivals – such as world champions Netherlands and runners-up Sweden – and snatched the gold medal. Last year, the duo sailed to fourth place at the World Championships in Scheveningen, the Netherlands. This year, they finished ninth in Lanzarote, Spain.
In the other Belgian boats are William De Smet in the ILCA 7 class and the duos Lucas Claeyssens/Eline Verstraelen (Nacra 17) and Yannick Lefèbvre/Jan Heuninck (49er).
Emma Plasschaert in action during the women's one-person dinghy laser radial sailing event at the Tokyo Olympics, August 2021 © BELGA PHOTO BENOIT DOPPAGNE
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