Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Tom Saunders: Kiwi Olympic Sailor on the competition for the 1-person Dinghy men’s races

Transcript

Tom Saunders: Kiwi Olympic Sailor on the competition for the 1-person Dinghy men’s races · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right now, the Kiwis are still looking to secure their
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: first medal in the Paris Olympics. It's been a busy morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: We've had cycling, we've had multiple equestrian events. Still no medals,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: but Kiwi Tom Saunders is one of the top laser
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: sailors in the world in Paris for his first Olympics
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and he is with us now. Tom, thank you very
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: much for being with me. First of all, how are
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you enjoying the experience?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty cool. Obviously we're not in Paris, we're
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: in Marseille, which is a little bit different being away
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: from the village, but yeah, it's pretty exciting opportunity coming
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: up and really looking forward to getting started.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Where are you staying if do they have a village
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: in Marseille or is he just in hotels or something.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: They do have a mini village in Marseille, but the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: sailing team we've opted to we're all staying in a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: couple of big houses, so we're all together and have
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: our own little thing going here. So it's quite a
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: nice setup and yeah, a bit of a luxury.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Quite a quite a difference for you. I mean, looking
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: back at Tokyo, you obviously missed out on selection for
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the Olympics. Then how does it feel to be there now?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're sort of still pinching yourself a little bit. Yeah,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I've come close a couple of times and you have
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: to finally get the nod and to be here now. Yeah,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: it's super exciting. And yeah, still got a few more
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: days before our event starts, but yeah, just starting to
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: get at your feet. So yeah, really looking forward to it.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Tell us about your event, the ILCA seven. What is
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: it exactly? I'm told it's the most competitive of the competitions.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Tell us about it and who's your big competition?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I say, by myself. So it's a means
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: dinghy and it's all one design, So we turn up
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: to the event and they supply all your equipment, which
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: is pretty cool. So it's a lot a lot more
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: pure sailing, I think, and it's all comes down to
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the sailor the individual as opposed to sort of what
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: gear you might have. So so in that sense it's yeah,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: it makes the racing super close because everyone's got the
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: same kit. But yeah, plenty of competition. We have the biggest,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: biggest fleet I think in the event, and yeah, just
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: being one design class, it's a lot easier for some
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: of the smaller nations to make it more affordable to race,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I suppose, so that's why we have good fleet numbers.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: But yeah, in terms of competition, I've been training with
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the Aussie and the brit and they've sort of set
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the benchmark the last sort of two years, so yeah
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: there'd be two, and yeah there'll be Germany, Norway, a
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: guy from Cyprus going really well and the hometown favorite
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: of the French. So yeah, not sure a competition that's
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Yep, you're racist. Thursday, ten pm, KEI we time for
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: those who are interested in having a geezel having a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: listen on gold Sport. Best of luck for your race
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and congratulations on getting to the Olympics. Will you be
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: our first medal?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: No, the forty nine boys are going really well at
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the moment, two days in and currently leading, so hopefully
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: them first and then follow by me.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, fingers crossed, fingers cross, We're looking forward to that
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: first one. Thank you very much for your time and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: best to luck. Tom Saunders with us the KeyWe Olympics Sailor.
• 3:28
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• 3:31
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• 3:34
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