Brilliant Brazilian

Torben Grael has four Olympic medals already, but wants another one in Athens

There aren't many sailors who can work an Olympic campaign into an America's Cup programme, but when you have achieved as much as Torben Grael (right), you can pretty much set your own terms.
The Brazilian is back in one of the most highly paid jobs in professional yachting, as tactician for the Prada Challenge. It was the role he played alongside skipper Francesco de Angelis when they won a close battle against Paul Cayard and AmericaOne in the last Louis Vuitton Cup - only to be trounced by Team New Zealand in the America's Cup final series.

Grael picked himself up, dusted himself down, and launched an eleventh-hour Star campaign for the Sydney Olympics. Going into the final race outside Sydney Heads, he was looking good for gold. But both he and American Mark Reynolds broke the start line early. Reynolds went back round, restarted and won the gold. Grael's disqualification saw him relegated to bronze, just behind Britain's Ian Walker and Mark Covell.

Still, bronze ain't bad, especially when you've already won a silver in 1984 (Soling in Los Angeles), a bronze in 1988 (Star in Korea) and a gold in 1996 (Star in Savannah). Oh...and add a Star Worlds in 1990 plus a couple of Snipe World Championships too.

With such a glowing CV many sailors would be tempted to wave goodbye to all the hard graft of Olympic campaigning to concentrate on the glamour jobs, but the Games is still where Grael's heart lies. "It's true, you have to make many sacrifices. Your family has to be very understanding because you are away for a long time," he says.

"But Olympic sailing is very good fun. It's very good for keeping you up to date with your skills - both in improving your technique and your boatspeed. It is time-consuming and I've had to say no to a lot of sailing projects in the past couple of years. But I think it is possible to do both [Olympics and America's Cup] - it keeps you busy and travelling a lot, but that is when I am most happy."

Like many Star sailors, he holds an undying affection for the antiquated design, which nevertheless continues to attract the biggest names in the professional world. "I have sailed in many other classes, but they do not have the same spirit as this class. The World Championships are very competitive, but very friendly too."

However, he is no fan of the shorter course racing that has replaced the old-style, one-race-a-day Olympic 'triangle-sausage' of old. "I don't like the new format, it's not as much fun. The races are becoming too short - the beat is almost as long as the start line in the World Championships.

"I think the sport is in danger of pandering too much to the media, but the organisers should ask the sailors what they want too."

Go to page 2 to look at Torben's take on GBR Challenge's chances in Auckland...