“Santiago Lange is a legend”, praised champion and runner-up of Nacra 17 in Tokyo 2020
The Italian Ruggero Tita and the British John Gimson, winners of the gold and silver medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the Nacra 17 class of sailing and world champions 2018 and 2020, respectively, praised the Argentine sailor Santiago Lange, whom they defined as a “legend” of world yachting.
“I think Santi is really a phenomenon, an undisputed phenomenon,” Tita said in statements to Télam.
“I don’t know where he finds the will to be always so competitive, always so up to date with the best racing techniques. It is really a sight to watch him sail,” said Tita, 2018 world champion in Aarhus, Denmark.
The Italian sailor highlighted from the Argentine duo (Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli) that “he is very strong, with a lot of experience” but “above all they are very constant and very strong in low wind conditions”.
“Another characteristic that stands out is their ability to always smile. They know how to perform very well when there is pressure,” said Tita, winner of the bronze medal at the 2017 World Cup in France.
Lange, 59, won the bronze medals in the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 together with Carlos Espínola from Corrientes in the Tornado class; and then, in partnership with Rosario Cecilia Carranza Saroli -an American medalist 2011- in the Nacra 17 class, the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro 2016, in Guanabara Bay.
In Rio de Janeiro 2016, the Argentine duo won the first gold medal for Argentine sailing at the Olympic Games; in second place were Australians Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, while Austrians Thomas Zajac-Tanja Frank won the bronze medal.
In Tokyo, Lange and Carranza Saroli won the medal race (a defining race with a double value that the top ten classified in the regular phase contested), finished in seventh position overall with 77 points and achieved the Olympic diploma.
“Santi is a person who inspires me. We are great friends and he is an Olympic sailing legend because of his achievements and personality,” said the British John Gimson, winner of the silver medal in Tokyo and world champion 2020 in Geelong. , Australia.
The British sailor, European runner-up 2019 and who trained this year together with the Argentine duo in Italy for four months, expressed: “He always tells me that the world is round and good deeds always turn you into good things in life and he is the definition in person for this saying. ”
The “albiceleste” duo achieved their qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the World Cup in Aarhus, Denmark, in August 2018, in which they finished third.
Lange and Carranza Saroli – winner of the gold medal at the Guadalajara 2011 Pan American Games in the Laser Radial class – also competed in four Nacra 17 Class World Cups: Spain, 2014 (second); France 2017 (13th),
Aarhus, Denmark, 2018 (third) and Geelong, Australia 2020, (tenth).
Lange and Carranza Saroli are coached by Juan de la Fuente, who achieved – along with Lucas Calabrese – the bronze medal in class 470 at the London 2012 Olympic Games, as well as in the Sydney 2000 Games, this time with Javier Conte.
For his part, the Italian Vittorio Bissaro, 2019 world champion of the Nacra class, expressed, also in dialogue with Télam, that “Santiago is among the greats of Olympic sailing. He won fewer medals than other greats of sailing but he won the medal. most incredible gold medal in Olympic history in Rio de Janeiro 2016 “.
“That which places him among the greatest along with the Brazilians Troben Grael and Robert Scheidt, the Ukrainian Valentin Mankin and the British Ben Ainslie,” he said.
The 34-year-old Italian sailor, 2019 world champion in the Nacra 17 class in Auckland, New Zealand; He won the bronze medal at the Clearwater, United States, 2016, and finished fifth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Meanwhile, Austrian Thomas Zajac, winner of the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, considered: “Together with Cecilia they form a great team mainly because she knows ‘Santi’ very well and knows how to treat him”, explained.
“He is a tireless worker. Demanding on board. It is known that working with demanding people is not easy; but Cecilia is doing a great job. They complement each other very well: ‘Santi’ is the experienced man and she is the energetic young woman in the ship, “Zajac finished.
In Olympic history, Argentine sailing won ten medals: one gold, four silver and five bronze medals, of which four were won by “Camau” Espínola.
