Happy Olympic Day!

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This day always brings back good memories. I represented Italy twice at the Olympic Games, in London 2012 and in Rio 2016. Those years were intense, formative, and honestly some of the best of my life. In 2016, we finished fifth in the 49erFX class in Rio with Giulia Conti. It was a massive disappointment.  We had won the European title earlier that year and we believed we could go all the way. But while I would have loved a medal, I came away with something that has stayed with me ever since.

The Olympic cycle is four years of work, of sacrifice, of pushing yourself and your partner to be the best version of what you can be together. And then you get to that start line and you have to perform. The pressure, the energy, the feeling of representing your country. I am Italian (an American too now!), and making it to two Games is something I am really proud of. It means a lot to me.

People sometimes raise an eyebrow when I mention the 49erFX in the context of what I do now. “A dinghy, what does that have to do with an IMOCA?” And I understand the reaction. On paper they feel like completely different worlds.

But it's not really true. Because what the 49erFX drilled into me was the discipline of thinking one step ahead. Always. In a boat that fast, if you're late, you're going to capsize. There's no margin, no time to think twice. You learn to read what's coming before it arrives and you act before it happens. That becomes a reflex. And now, alone on an IMOCA, super powered up with big sails, that reflex is everything. As soon as you are late, you can put yourself in a really big mess.

I put all these pieces of what I did in other boats and other experiences and I tried to just put everything together. You take a bit from here, from there, you put it all in. In the end it's the same sport.

Every boat I've ever sailed has given me something. The Olympics gave me the foundation, the mentality, the way of competing. And I carry that with me every time I step on board.

To everyone who was part of that journey, thank you. 

Happy Olympic Day!