Giulia Conti: “Gold medal, now or never…”

“I still have them printed in my mind, those three hours. Those three hours spent ashore between the morning races and the medal race.” The medal race is from the 2015 ISAF 49er FX World Championship in San Isidro, Argentina. And speaking to me is Giulia Conti, winner of the rainbow title along with bowwoman Francesca Clapcich: “We were tied on points with the Brazilians (Martina Grael, daughter of Torben and Kahena Kunze, Giulia and Francesca’s number one opponents). Time seemed to stand still. I had a tiny little stomach. I tried to stuff myself with food, focused on the boat to check each maneuver before going into the water. Anxiety, tension. Francersca and I said to each other: but when c…. this medal race start?” Fortunately, it started and ended in the best possible way, with the two Italians in the lead from the beginning and very good at managing the situation. Giulia and Francesca’s world victory is not only important because it is a historic achievement for Italian sailing, which had not won a rainbow title in the Olympic classes since 2008 (when champion Alessandra Sensini, in New Zealand, won the World Championship of the women’s RS:X Olympic sailing board).

IN BRAZIL TO WIN
Above all, it is a very clear ‘we are there’ ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics. The culmination of a crowning season, complete with a ‘triplete’: to the World Championship should be added the victories of the European title in July in Portugal and the Italian title at the CICO in Naples in September. Not to mention the World bronze won in Santander in 2014 and numerous podiums in the ISAF World Cup. “A perfect year, there’s no denying it,” Giulia continued, “we always stay focused on giving our best, event after event, so we didn’t pay attention to it, but seen from the outside this hat trick may seem really miraculous! I’m really happy, better late than never.” Rio goal? “No use hanging around. We will go to Brazil to win.” Heedless of the spotlight on them: “At 30 years old, after four Olympic campaigns (one on the Yngling in 2004, two on the 470 in 2008 and 2012 – both ended in fifth place, with many, too many regrets – and the current one: Clapcich on the other hand boasts an Olympic participation in 2012, among the Laser Radial), I have no problem candidly admitting that I don’t feel the slightest media pressure; what the newspapers write doesn’t matter to me. When I don’t win, I disappoint myself first of all.”

POLLUTION OR NOT, WE LIKE RIO
The opponents to beat, the aforementioned Grael-Kunze, will play at home: “But the Rio race course is friendly to us,” continues the Roman sailor who grew up competitively on Lake Garda, “both in terms of weather and landscape conditions. Medium and steady wind dictates as few mistakes as possible, because if you make a mistake, fixing it is almost impossible. Our consistency in results gives us hope.” Rio may be, aesthetically, a knockout race course: but the same cannot be said of the quality of its waters. Controversy rages over pollution in Guanabara Bay and potential health risks for competitors: “In San Isidro in Argentina, many participants got sick, many more than in the test events in Brazil. I think all this scaremongering should be taken with a grain of salt,” Giulia argues.

QUESTION OF TECHNIQUE
How do you race on the 49er FX? “Francesca and I come from the more ‘classic’ drifts, so we had to adapt to a whole new world. A world of speed where the quickness of a choice can make all the difference. Regattas last half an hour, times get shorter and you have to possess enough lucidity to make a decision in a few seconds.” In the tactics-strategy pair, on the 49er “strategy matters most. Very few turns are made so boat speed is the most important factor. This is a very technical boat, where controlling the boat is the difficult part. As soon as the wind picks up a bit, capsizing is a snap. But if I have to say, compared to the 470, it is much more fun!” Precisely because of these characteristics, the 49er is not a boat to get on and ‘improvise’ by perfect self-taught: you need someone experienced to help you understand it, to feel it.

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THE IDEAL COACH
Someone like Gianfranco Sibello, coach of the pair, who has three Olympic campaigns behind him (and a stolen bronze in 2008 due to an absurd flaw in the rules): “With Gianfranco it took us a while before we got along: at first he still felt he was too much of an athlete, plus managing a couple of girls is not easy. But now we are indivisible. The experience he was able to pass on to us was very important: there is a solid foundation of great mutual esteem between us. Together with him and our mental coach Massimo Giardino, we have built a partnership that works. Also thanks to my club, the Air Force and the whole Federvela. We play with the boats, but they are behind the scenes!”

THE MYTHS OF GIULIA CONTI
I am curious about the mythical character of an already mythical sailor: “I am an Olympic drifter, so I can only answer you by quoting an Olympic drifter: Sir Ben Ainslie.” Ainslie won four gold medals and one silver medal at the Olympic Games between Laser and Finn. Data in hand, he is the most successful sailor in history, the only one to have won medals in five different editions of the Olympic Games. “But he is not the only one,” Julia continued: “I also count Peter Burling and Blair Tuke among my role models. The two New Zealanders, after winning silver in Weymouth in 2012 on the 49er, have won 20 regattas in a row including the Olympic test event in Rio, the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres, Weymouth and Portland, and the Princesa Sofia Trophy. Currently to call them unbeatable is an understatement.” On the level of references in the world of sports in general, the sailor on CC Aniene’s strength has clear ideas: “Some time ago I saw a documentary about the history of the skier Lindsay Vonn. His knee injury, the year spent seeking a recovery that was never completed, the humiliation of having to watch the Sochi Winter Olympics on a couch. A dark period overcome thanks to her desire to become the best again, as she is still proving today. The perfect embodiment of the athlete who falls down and gets back up stronger than before. A real idol.”

FLY? NO THANKS
Giulia Conti went from the Optimist to the 470, then landed on the 49er FX. Increasingly faster means. And so a question arises: a future aboard a flying boat, equipped with foils? “Honestly? No. I am 30 years old, no longer a young girl. I’m not saying they’re not fun-I even owned a Moth that I sailed the Garda with, but I had to sell it to afford new equipment for the 49er. But they are not for me. Take the America’s Cup. None of the participating countries, with the exception of France, have purchased the television rights. What does this mean? That foiling maybe can be the future, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be all that successful in the present. Personally, I have always preferred the America’s Cup of monohulls.”

Eugene Ruocco

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