Sailing has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions. Apart from the 1904 Summer Olympics, sailing has been present in every edition of the Olympic Games.
Robert Scheidt is a Brazilian sailor who has won two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze from five Olympic Games and a Star Sailors League Final. He is one of the most successful sailors at Olympic Games and one of the most successful Brazilian Olympic athletes, being one of only two to earn five medals along with fellow sailor Torben Grael, and the only Brazilian sailor to win medals in both dinghy and keelboat classes.
Fernando Echávarri Erasun is a professional yachtsman in the Olympic Tornado class. Teaming with crew Antón Paz Blanco, he became the Spanish, European, World Champion, ISAF Sailor of the year in 2005, Olympic gold medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games held in Qingdao.
The Mixed Tornado was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 30 sailors, on 15 boats, from 15 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race.
Antón Paz Blanco is a Spanish sailor. With his partner Fernando Echavarri he won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The two also competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, where they finished eighth. He is from the town of Vilagarcia de Arousa, Galicia, Spain.
Andrew James "Bart" Simpson, was an English sailor who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, as crew for skipper Iain Percy in the Star class representing Great Britain. Simpson died in the capsize of the catamaran he was crewing on 9 May 2013, while training for the America's Cup in San Francisco Bay.
Roland Gäbler is a German sailor and member in the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein as well as in the Kieler Yacht-Club. He competed in five Olympic Games.
John Forbes is an Australian sailor and has competed at three Olympic Games, winning a bronze at Barcelona 1992 and silver in 2000 at the Sydney Games.
Emmanuelle Rol is a Swiss-born French former sailor, who specialized in the two-person dinghy (470) class. Together with her partner Anne-Sophie Thilo, she was named one of the country's top sailors in the double-handed dinghy for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a lowly seventeenth place. Outside her Olympic career, she collected a total of two medals under each different banner at the European Championships. A member of her native Pully's local sailing club, Rol trained most of her sporting career under the federation's head coach for 470, French-born Nicolas Novara.
Anne-Sophie Thilo is a Swiss former sailor, who specialized in the two-person dinghy (470) class. Together with her partner Emmanuelle Rol, she won a silver medal at the Europeans in Riva del Garda, Italy and was named one of the country's top sailors in the double-handed dinghy for the Summer Olympics a few months later in Beijing, finishing in a lowly seventeenth place. A member of her native Pully's local sailing club, Thilo trained most of her sporting career under the federation's head coach for 470, French-born Nicolas Novara.
Tobias Etter is a Swiss former sailor, who specialized in the two-person dinghy (470) class. Together with his partner Felix Steiger, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the double-handed dinghy for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a distant twenty-third place. Outside his Olympic career, he and Steiger locked the podium spot with a bronze in the men's 470 at the 2005 Summer Universiade in İzmir, Turkey. Etter trained most of his sporting career at Schloss Greifensee Sailing Club in the outskirts of Zürich.
Felix Steiger is a Swiss former sailor, who specialized in the two-person dinghy (470) class. Together with his partner Tobias Etter, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the double-handed dinghy for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a distant twenty-third place. Outside his Olympic career, he and Etter locked the podium spot with a bronze in the men's 470 at the 2005 Summer Universiade in İzmir, Turkey. Steiger trained most of his sporting career at Schloss Greifensee Sailing Club in the outskirts of Zürich.
Johann "Hans" Spitzauer is an Austrian former sailor, who specialized in both Finn and Star classes. He was named the country's top Finn sailor in the first three editions of his Olympic career and came closest to the medal haul in Atlanta 1996, finishing in fourth place. After missing out his Sydney 2000 bid, he moved into the Star class and eventually partnered with Andreas Hanakamp to compete at his fourth Olympics in Athens 2004 and with Christian Nehammer at his fifth in Beijing 2008. Outside the Games, Spitzauer was deemed one of the world's most successful Finn sailors in the early to mid-1990s, receiving a complete set of medals with one in each color at the Finn Gold Cup and the Finn European Championships, respectively.
Francesco Marcolini is an Italian former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Edoardo Bianchi, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for two consecutive Olympic editions, finishing each in the top ten, respectively. A member of Yacht Club Italiano in his native Genoa, Marcolini trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his personal coach and Barcelona 1992 Olympian Angelo Glisoni.
Edoardo Bianchi is an Italian former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Francesco Marcolini, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for two consecutive Olympic editions, finishing each in the top ten, respectively. A member of Yacht Club Italiano in his native Genoa, Bianchi trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his personal coach and Barcelona 1992 Olympian Angelo Glisoni.
Florian Spalteholz is a German former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Johannes Polgar, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in eighth place. A member of North German Regatta Club, Spalteholz trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his Norwegian-born personal coach Rigo de Nijs.
Xavier Revil is a French sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Christophe Espagnon, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a distant eleventh position. Outside his Olympic career, he and Espagnon gave the home crowd a further reason to celebrate with a bronze-medal finish at the 2005 Tornado Worlds in La Rochelle. A member of the local sailing regatta club in his current hometown Annecy, Revil trained most of his competitive sporting career under the tutelage of his personal coach Philippe Neiras.
Christophe Espagnon is a French sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Xavier Revil, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a distant eleventh position. Outside his Olympic career, he and Revil gave the home crowd a further reason to celebrate with a bronze-medal finish at the 2005 Tornado Worlds in La Rochelle. A member of La Rochelle Sailing Regatta, Espagnon trained most of his competitive sporting career under the tutelage of his personal coach Philippe Neiras.
Pavlo Pavlovych Kalynchev is a Ukrainian former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Andriy Shafranyuk, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a distant thirteenth position. Throughout his competitive sporting career, Kalynchev trained as a member of the sailing squad for Ukraïna Mykolaïv.
Andriy Olehovych Shafranyuk is a Ukrainian former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Pavlo Kalynchev, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a distant thirteenth position. Throughout his competitive sporting career, Shafranyuk trained as a member of the sailing squad for Ukraïna Mykolaïv.
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