Torben Grael
Torben Grael
Who else has won five Olympic sailing medals? With
his gold medal in Athens at the 2004 Olympics the 44-year-old Brazilian
has certainly made his mark as an extraordinary sailboat racer. Grael
earned a silver medal in the Soling class in 1984 then switched over to
the Star class. Since his 1988 campaign, he has not only won two bronze
and two gold medals, he's also won won the Star world championship
once, the Star Europeans three times, and Kiel Week, five times. As a
top Snipe sailor, Grael is also a two-time world champion.
Outside of dinghy classes, Grael has raced big boats, winning the One
Ton Worlds in 1992 as tactician. More recently, he was the tactician of
the winning Louis Vuitton Cup America's Cup boat in 2000, Luna Rossa,
which beat Paul Cayard's AmericaOne before losing to Team New Zealand.
Since the Olympics ended in 2004, Grael has shown no sign of slowing
down. At the time of his selection to the Hall of Fame, he was
preparing to helm Brasil 1 around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race.
