Team GB sailors John Gimson and Anna Burnet are leaving no stone unturned when they head to the Olympic Games this summer, following another cycle replete with success.
The sailing stars are partners both on and off the water and have a wedding date set for after the Games, where they will hope to be able to have an extra bit of silverware on show in the form of an Olympic medal each.
They arrive in Marseille in strong form after winning world silver earlier this year but despite this, their chemistry and championship pedigree, including Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020, the duo are treating this summer’s regatta just like any other race.
Gimson said: “In our case there’s no room for arrogance or preconceptions. At the end of the day everyone is on an equal scoresheet going into the regatta. Nobody has anything yet and I think that’s the best way to think of it.
“Nobody has an Olympic medal yet from Paris and we have an opportunity to get one. We have to fight everyday as hard as we can to get that. As soon as you have any complacency it doesn’t work because everyone else is fighting hard.”
Burnet added: “The nature of the venue takes away any complacency because it’s such an unpredictable place to sail. You can’t just rely on being the quickest or the best in any one area because it’ll test everyone so much and there’s an element of randomness to the racing there.
“Across the week the luck will even out as it always does but we can’t expect anything, that’s for sure. We need to take it minute by minute, race by race.”
The Marseille Marina will host all the sailing events for the Paris 2024 Games, with 14 Team GB athletes, including Gimson and Burnet, competing for medals.
The pair, who compete in the Nacra 17 class, start their competition on 3 August, with the medal race on 7 August marking the end of the week-long proceedings on the Mediterranean.
And for all the pair’s technical skill on the water, the duo revealed that any medal chances will be contingent on keeping a cool head in troubled waters.
Gimson added: “With our sport, it’s a long game of attrition over a week. We’ve been training all year and I think in terms of results, we’d love to get a medal but at the end of the week we’d like to feel we could do that and leave everything out there.
“How you conduct yourself and perform over the week is within your control. Our goal is to deliver the best we can.”
Burnet said: “Marseille is a really difficult venue. It’s quite unpredictable, it’s going to reward the team that can keep their head together and stay strong mentally.
“It’ll be a mental battle more than anything else in that week of racing. Like John said, the dream would be to come away with a gold medal, but we’ll do everything we can, and it’ll be enough, or it won’t be enough.”
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