Fuelling the fire for Rio as Scott prepares for home World Cup
by Lindsey Bell 8 Jun 2015 07:52 PDT
8-14 June 2015
Giles Scott wins Finn gold at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team
World Champion Giles Scott admits to having mixed emotions as he prepares to race on his home waters at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland this week (10-14 June).
As with many of his fellow British Sailing Team members, the Dorset venue is home and a training base for the 27-year-old Scott, who's gone unbeaten in the Finn class since October 2013.
But at the same time, Weymouth and Portland is the venue which ended Scott's dreams of competing at a home Olympic Games when, four years ago in 2011, Ben Ainslie defeated his younger teammate at the London 2012 selection trials before going on to win his historic fourth Olympic gold just over a year later.
Scott has never forgotten the experience and disappointment of missing out in the 2012 trials. But rather than brooding on it, he insists he uses it as fuel and motivation to better his Olympic campaign this time around for Rio 2016.
"Looking back on it now, it's obviously bitterly disappointing that I didn't qualify for the London Games as I felt I was in a decent position to go on and do well at them," Scott reflected.
"But the facts are the facts – Ben beat me in the trials and he won the spot to go. It is what it is, and I've had to move on from that. Weymouth is my home, it's where I've lost some pretty important regattas, but it's also where I've won some pretty good regattas as well, so there is definitely that bittersweet feeling here."
"Weymouth has served as a bit of a reminder to me, constantly, over the last few years. But it's very good for me to have that reminder of the disappointment because it keeps me working hard and keeps me honest," continued Scott, who now also races alongside his one-time rival as part of BAR – Ainslie's British team aiming to win the 35th America's Cup.
"For sure I do like to be reminded a lot to make sure I'm doing things the right way, and making sure I'm doing everything I can to get to where I want to be come 2016. Having Weymouth on my doorstep is a big part of that."
Although Scott remains, as ever, modest about his gold medal prospects heading in to this week's World Cup event – the fourth stage in the six event series – he has high hopes of putting on a good show for his home fans come medal race day on Sunday 14 June.
"The quality of the fleet [this week] is certainly way up there. The Kiwis are here, the French guys are coming over, the Brazilians are here," he explained. "There's a decent group of maybe seven or eight people who could get on the podium, so the racing will be pretty tight I'm sure. We'll see how the week pans out.
"I'll take the racing very seriously and I'll do my best to win. I've been going well in the training, so hopefully I'll be in a decent position by the end of the week."
Some 76 British athletes, including Olympic and Paralympic medallists, are set to compete across the ten Olympic and three Paralympic classes, plus an invitational kiteboard event, over five days of racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland.
Competition gets underway on Wednesday 10 June, with the Paralympic Classes concluding on Saturday 13 June and the final ten boat medal races for the Olympic Classes on Sunday 14 June.
Tickets are still available for the final medal race day at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy – register now for free!
The ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland is part of UK Sport's #EveryRoadtoRio events series, which will feature over 30 world class sports events the length and breadth of the UK, with over 900,000 tickets available to the British public to support their athletes.
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