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Cape Town - SA Sailing is celebrating the announcement on Wednesday that three of their sailors will be competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) confirmed in theirfirst team announcement that Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson (470) and Stefano Marcia (Laser) will all be competing in Rio when then Games get underway from August 5-21.
“I'm feeling overwhelmed with excitement of being included into the Olympic team,” said Marcia.
“My dreams are finally a reality and now it's time to keep my head down and work towards finishing off this cycle of training and competing with a strong result and to make my family, friends and all my supporters proud when I get to Rio,” added the Laser sailor from Benoni, who will be competing at the Olympics for the first time.
This will be Jim and Hudson’s second Olympic Games, and while their qualification for the last Games in London was a last-gasp effort, this time round they’re a far more established team, with a top-10 finish well within their reach.
With their selection for Rio, Jim, Hudson and Marcia have joined an elite group of sailors having represented South Africa in sailing at the Olympic Games, dating back to Rupert Ellis-Brown in 1924.
“We are absolutely thrilled that three of our sailors will be representing the country in Rio this August,” said SA Sailing chairperson Peter Hall.
“Sailing is a fast-growing sport in South Africa across many different communities with our extensive development programmes reaching areas that have usually not been exposed to the sport.
“We wish Asenathi, Roger and Stefano all the best as they represent these thousands of sailors - and the whole of South Africa in Rio and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve in their respective classes,” added Hall.
The Olympic sailing programme will take place from August 8-18 at Guanabara Bay.
