America’s Cup 35 - Slingsby re-signs with Oracle Team USA
by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World team on 14 Nov 2013
Oracle Team USA’s Tom Slingsby Richard Gladwell
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Australian 2012 Olympic Laser Gold Medallist, 2010 World Sailor of the year and highly regard America’s Cup strategist Tom Slingsby has confirmed today to Sail-World that he had re-signed with the Oracle Team USA for the 35th America’s Cup.
Slingsby who worked so famously with helmsman Jimmy Spithill and tactician Ben Ainslie to engineer one of the most amazing come backs in sporting history has been weighing his options in recent weeks.
Yachting Australia (YA) had hoped Slingsby would return to Olympic sailing in the Finn Class but the Gosford NSW sailor advised YA today that this was not currently in the table.
He explained to Sail-World ‘To do the Olympics you have to have an amazing amount of drive. You have to be up in the morning at 6am. You have to be cycling, in the gym. You have to be out sailing when it is freezing cold and zero degrees and doing that extra step compared to anyone to win that gold.
' It has to become an obsession of yours. At the moment I don’t quite have that drive but in a year or two who knows. I might get that back and I might want to come back to Olympic sailing.
‘Right now I want to do another America’s Cup. I want to have fun, sail with really good people and be part of a team that can win the Cup and for me that is the most important thing.
‘So I can confirm today that I have re-signed with Oracle Team USA.’
Sail-World will publish more from its extended interview with Slingsby in the next few days.
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