| AGIOS KOSMAS, ATHENS, GREECE-(21-8-2003) There are always facts and figures of special interest to the press and
electronic media representatives and, naturally, to sports fans in an
international-calibre Sport Event such as the Athens 2003 Regatta. Such facts
include the youngest and oldest athletes, the tallest and shortest, those
weighing the most and the least, and those who will be celebrating their
birthday on one of the competition days.
Youth is fine, but age is fine too!
The grandfather of the Athens 2003 Regatta is Julio Alberto Labandeira from
Argentina, who, just a few days ago – on 12 August to be exact – completed
his 54th year of age and is now leading the 55th.
Labandeira is skipper of a Star class craft with crew-member Valentin Guyllermo
Thompson, who is 27 years younger than him. The oldest woman athlete is Nicola
Bethwaite from Australia, who is skippering an Yngling-class craft. The eight
oldest athletes participating in the Athens 2003 Regatta are listed below (women
athletes are denoted with an asterisk):
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Date of Birth
|
|
Julio Alberto LABANDEIRA
|
Star
|
Argentina
|
12/08/1949
|
|
Dusan PUH
|
Tornado
|
Slovenia
|
14/11/1951
|
|
Nicola BETHWAITE (*)
|
Yngling
|
Australia
|
12/05/1955
|
|
Kevin BURNHAM
|
470
|
USA
|
21/12/1956
|
|
Joni LEEVE
|
Star
|
Finland
|
27/01/1957
|
|
Lee WHITE
|
Star
|
Bermuda
|
13/09/1957
|
|
Paul CAYARD
|
Star
|
USA
|
19/05/1959
|
|
Colin BEASHEL
|
Star
|
Australia
|
21/11/1959
|
Spain’s Blanca Manchon and Bulgaria’s Vesselin Nanev, on the other end of
the Sport Event’s age scale, are only 16 years and a few months old.
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Date of Birth
|
|
Blanca MANCHON (*)
|
Mistral
|
Spain
|
06/03/1987
|
|
Vesselin NANEV
|
Mistral
|
Bulgaria
|
21/01/1987
|
|
Mateja PETRONIJEVIC (*)
|
Europe
|
Croatia
|
01/09/1986
|
|
Gabriela HATZIDAMIANOU (*)
|
Mistral
|
Cyprus
|
30/06/1986
|
|
Ayda UNVER (*)
|
Europe
|
Turkey
|
03/01/1986
|
|
Klaudia MATIS (*)
|
Europe
|
Hungary
|
04/12/1984
|
|
Tejia CERNE (*)
|
Europe
|
Slovenia
|
29/09/1984
|
|
Nikolaus PESCH
|
49er
|
Austria
|
30/08/1984
|
Heavyweights and featherweights…
Strange as it may seem, there are 29 athletes weighing over 100 kilos in the
Regatta. At 199 kilos, Spain’s Rafael Trujillo is champion of the scale
busters, with American Darell Peck weighing in second at 118 kilos:
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Weight in kg
|
|
Rafael TRUJILLO
|
Finn
|
Spain
|
119
|
|
Darell PECK
|
Finn
|
USA
|
118
|
|
Marcelo FERREIRA
|
Star
|
Brazil
|
112
|
|
Peter Frederick BROMBY
|
Star
|
Bermuda
|
111
|
|
Steve MITCHELL
|
Star
|
Great Britain
|
110
|
|
Kai BJORN
|
Star
|
Canada
|
110
|
|
Jean-Pierre MARTENS
|
Star
|
Netherlands
|
108
|
|
David GILES
|
Star
|
Australia
|
106
|
The overwhelming majority of the lightweights is women, although one man does
make it in the list:
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Weight in kg
|
|
Nike KORNECKI (*)
|
470
|
Israel
|
50
|
|
Franziska DUERIG (*)
|
470
|
Switzerland
|
52
|
|
Vlada ILIENKO (*)
|
470
|
Russia
|
52
|
|
Amelie LUX (*)
|
Mistral
|
Germany
|
52
|
|
Ingrid PETITJEAN (*)
|
470
|
France
|
52
|
|
Maria Fernanda SESTO (*)
|
470
|
Argentina
|
54
|
|
Katerina GIAKOUMIDOU (*)
|
Yngling
|
Greece
|
55
|
|
Nick ROGERS
|
470
|
Great Britain
|
55
|
Never mind the height….
Looking at the list of participants, we find that there is not a single
athlete over two metres in height - which would have been downright
disappointing if starting a basketball team had been the objective:
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Height in metres
|
|
Nikola AKRAP
|
Star
|
Croatia
|
1.99
|
|
Steve MITCHELL
|
Star
|
Great Britain
|
1.98
|
|
Philip TRINTER
|
Star
|
USA
|
1.98
|
|
Kristian MATTSSON
|
Tornado
|
Sweden
|
1.96
|
|
Kai BJORN
|
Star
|
Canada
|
1.96
|
|
Marc Aurel PICKEL
|
Star
|
Germany
|
1.96
|
|
Mark MANSFIELD
|
Star
|
Ireland
|
1.95
|
|
Killian COLLINS
|
Star
|
Ireland
|
1.95
|
At the other end of the list – the shortest athletes – first place goes
to Japan’s Chizuko Ijima who is only 1.55 metres tall. The eight shortest are:
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Height
|
|
Chizuko IJIMA (*)
|
470
|
Japan
|
1.55
|
|
Maiko SATO
|
Europe
|
Japan
|
1.55
|
|
Maria Fernanda SESTO (*)
|
470
|
Argentina
|
1.58
|
|
Nike KORNECKI (*)
|
470
|
Israel
|
1.60
|
|
Shelley HESSON (*)
|
470
|
New Zealand
|
1.60
|
|
Vesna DEKLEVA (*)
|
470
|
Slovenia
|
1.60
|
|
Masako IMAI (*)
|
Mistral
|
Japan
|
1.60
|
|
Maria SAARIKALLIO (*)
|
470
|
Finland
|
1.60
|
‘Happy Birthday to… them!’
The ten men and two women athletes who will be celebrating their birthday at
the Olympic Sailing Centre during the period that the Athens 2003 Regatta will
be taking place are:
|
Name
|
Class
|
NOC
|
Birthday
|
|
Valentin THOMPSON
|
Star
|
USA
|
21/8
|
|
Claus OLESEN
|
Star
|
Denmark
|
21/8
|
|
Peter NICKOLAS
|
470
|
N. Zealand
|
21/8
|
|
Xiaqun SONG (*)
|
470
|
China
|
22/8
|
|
Frode BOVIM
|
49er
|
Norway
|
22/8
|
|
Nikola AKRAP
|
Star
|
Croatia
|
24/8
|
|
Johannes POLGAR
|
Tornado
|
Germany
|
25/8
|
|
Hiroki GOTO
|
470
|
Japan
|
25/8
|
|
Makiko IKUTA (*)
|
470
|
Japan
|
25/8
|
|
Sangkyu KIM
|
Laser
|
Korea
|
25/8
|
|
Peter Frederick BROMBY
|
Star
|
Bermuda
|
26/8
|
|
Richard STAUFFACHER
|
Mistral
|
Switzerland
|
28/8
|
| 
