VELAQUIZ – The mystery sailor was Pietro Sibello: so many of you wrote to us, here is the winner

Great success for the VELAQuiz we launched last week on our website. We had asked you to guess the “mystery sailor” we had chosen from the roll of Sailor of the Year that the Sailing Newspaper has been electing since 1991, giving you three clues. Within minutes of launching the challenge (up for grabs were two entry tickets to the TAG Heuer VELAFestival in Genoa), we were literally inundated with dozens of your emails.

PIETRO SIBELLO, INDOMITABLE SAILOR

No one got the answer wrong: the mystery sailor was Pietro Sibello, the great and unfortunate champion who has been through it all, from “stealing” the bronze in Beijing to the angioma that prevented him from participating in the London Games. Sibello is one of those tough-skinned sailors who never gets down despite the odds. His story is an example, impossible not to elect him Sailor of the Year in 2009-so we were not surprised by your immediate feedback.

BY THE WAY, HAVE YOU VOTED FOR YOUR FAVORITE CANDIDATE FOR THE 2014 TAG HEUER SAILOR OF THE YEAR YET? DO IT HERE WITH ONE CLICK

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THE WINNER OF THE VELAQUIZ
In the regulations, we asked you to send us an email with the name of the mystery sailor Justifying the reason for your answer based on the clues provided. Of all the messages we have received, the one that shows the most completeness is that of David Lo Pinto, a Genovese sailing enthusiast and the son of one of the doctors Sibello asked for an opinion on whether he could compete in the Olympics despite his angioma, a possibility that CONI had denied him. We look forward to seeing you at the VELAFestival, Davide, since you are from Genoa, you have no excuse!

DAVID’S ARGUMENTS
David writes: “Hello, the name of the ‘mystery sailor’ is PIETRO SIBELLO, your 2009 Sailor of the Year.” Here is how he argued his answers, based on the three clues we had provided.

-1. He was born in Albenga (Savona).
“Pietro Sibello is from Liguria – like me – born in Albenga (SV) on June 28, 1979, living in Alassio (SV). He is married and the father of two children. Together with his brother Gianfranco, he raced 470s and then 49ers, participating in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. Pietro and Gianfranco are both sons of art: in 1972, their father Francesco had participated in the Munich Olympics in the Tempest class.”

-2. He had his Olympic bronze medal “snatched” from his neck for outright misconduct perpetrated by an opposing crew and not sanctioned by the regatta judges.
“2008 Beijing Olympics: following a week of great racing, Peter and Gianfranco enter the Medal Race in the race for bronze in the 49er. The Danish team, clearly in the lead before the Medal Race, broke its mast on the day of the last race, thus precluding itself from participating in the final, the decisive one. The Danes still managed to start with the boat provided by the Croatians (who did not qualify for the Medal Race). The race takes place in fog, with strong winds and heavy seas; everyone scuffles and the rankings change all the time. At the finish line the Sibellos were celebrating bronze, but they did not realize that the ‘Croatian’ boat was actually hosting the Danish crew.Warrer and Ibsen arrived within maximum time and, thanks to many withdrawals, re-entered the standings and took gold. The Jury confirms. The bluebirds drop to 4th place. Two days and nights of protests and appeals to the ISAF Jury and the IOC Tribunal do nothing to return Peter and Gianfranco to a truly deserved medal. The Danish crew had ignored 3 rules found in the Olympic Measurement Regulations:

(1) each boat must carry on its hull and sail the insignia (letters and flag) of its nation
(2) had not mounted on the boat the camera (weighing about 3Kg) that all the other boats participating in the Medal Race had installed on board
(3) all boats that qualified for the Medal Race were supposed to remain in a quarantine area from the evening of the day before, with no more ability to make changes, which the Croatian boat had not done.

The penalty or disqualification for breaking these rules is not automatic but is at the discretion of the jury. Which he judged favorably in favor of the Danes.”

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-3. An indomitable and unfortunate champion, he had to forfeit the last Olympic Games in London 2012 due to health problems.
Less than two years before the 2012 London Olympics, Pietro and Gianfranco were leading the 49er world rankings when Pietro was diagnosed with a brain angioma, a genetic malformation that was treated and overcome. However, CONI doctors, in several subsequent decisions, denied competitive fitness to the Yellow Flames athlete, who therefore had to forgo the British Olympics. In order to prove his competitive fitness, Peter consults several medical specialists, gathering favorable opinions-which, however, are not heeded by CONI. This included the favorable opinion of my father, Dr. Giuliano Lo Pinto, a general practitioner at the Galliera Hospital in Genoa.”

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