Tokyo 2020: The Away Stadium

Brazilian Jorge Zarif had a home field advantage during the Rio 2016 Olympics, though finishing just off the Finn podium in fourth leaves him wanting more. So he has his sights on Tokyo 2020, but that means adapting to an “away stadium.”

He is spending a lot of time at the venue, both training and this week competing at ‘Ready Steady Tokyo – Sailing‘, the official test event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition.

“In Japan I was here a month last year for the World Cup, also 20 days in July and one month now, and I will stay for the World Cup (Aug 27 – Sep 1) as well. It’s lot of time.

“This is not a place like Rio when you can come any time of the year. It has to be at the right time because the conditions change fast. So I will try to spend as much time here as I can this summer.”

Zarif notes how sailing well in Japan is more challenging than other venues, particularly when strong offshore winds deliver large waves as what occurred on the first day of the Olympic Test Event.

“It’s super hard here and brutally warm as well. My heart rate goes up very quick here, which is a little bit different from other places. So I think the Olympics will be hard to predict what we will have. Last year in the World Cup we had offshore really shifty wind. When raining we had a lot of wind with the sea breeze so I think the guys must be prepared for everything, as always.”

Source: Finn Class