Sailing - Julie qualifies for fifth Olympics in Finn class |04 April 2016

After four times sailing the Laser at the Olympic Games, Allan Julie has qualified for his fifth Olympics but this time he will be in the Finn class in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5-21, 2015.

Julie made absolutely sure of the African continental selection for Rio 2016 with nine straight victories over Tunisian Karim Esseghir at the 47th Trofeo Princesa Sofia IBEROSTAR (Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta) in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, from March 25 to April 2 – the final selection regatta for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

He finished 56th in the 74-boat fleet and his best result was a 35th position, while Tunisian Karim Esseghir was ranked 69th overall in the heavyweight one-person dinghy Finn class.

Julie was delighted to be heading to his fifth Olympic Games. “I am very happy tonight having just qualified for my fifth Olympic Games. I've enjoyed the learning experience in a new Olympic class, but time now for a short break before stepping back into the boat again for the Finn Gold Cup,” Julie wrote on his Facebook page.

After failing to qualify in the Laser class at the African Championship of Sailing in Algiers, Algeria in December last year, Julie took up a new challenge – top level Finn sailing – and competed at the Finn European Championships in early March in Barcelona to get familiar with the boat.

In fact, Julie started sailing the Finn boat in February and coming from the Laser, in which he sailed the last four Olympics, he said “the Finn feels like a more stable boat and it feels like a real boat. I like it. I think it's probably better for people more like my weight.” Julie is 93kg and in the lower weight range for Finn sailing.

The last time Julie took part in the Olympics was in 2008 in Beijing, China where he finished 32nd overall in the 43-sailor Laser fleet with 203 points after being ranked 33rd, 37th, 13th, 33rd, 27th, 16th, 21st, 30th and 30th in nine races at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre.

Julie’s best overall finish in any Olympics was 20th out of 42 sailors in Athens, Greece, in 2004.

The former six-time Sportsman of the Year made his debut at the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, USA (finishing 36th out of 56 sailors) and was in Sydney, Australia in 2000 (finishing 28th out of 43).

He did not qualify for the 2012 Olympics in England as he had retired from the sport only to come back stronger.

Julie becomes the fourth Seychellois athlete – all males – to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Laser sailor Rodney Govinden and windsurfer Jean-Marc Gardette were the first two to qualify last year as they finished among the top two in their respective event at the African Championship of Sailing in Algiers, Algeria.

In Rio, Govinden will race in the Laser standard class, while Gardette will compete in RSX windsurfing. They will both be making their debut at the biggest multi-sports events in the world.

Govinden and Gardette also took part in the just-ended 47th Trofeo Princesa Sofia IBEROSTAR. In the Laser class, Govinden was ranked 114th out of 152 sailors, while Gardette finished 75th out of 85 in the windsurfing contest.

Last month, Seychellois lightweight (60kg) boxer Andrique Allisop qualified for the Rio Olympics after claiming his category’s bronze medal at the International Boxing Association (Aiba) African Continental Olympic qualifying event in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Allisop needed to win his third place play-off and he convincingly beat Tunisian Shili Alaa 3-0 to join Egyptian gold medallist Abdelaal Mahmoud and Algerian silver medallist Reda Benbaziz on the plane to Rio.

This will be Allisop’s second appearance at the Olympic Games after making his debut in London in 2012 where he lost his first fight against Indian Jai Bhagwan on an 8-18 verdict in the men's lightweight (60kg) category bout of the round of 32 at the ExCeL South arena. He lost the first and second rounds on identical scores of 3-7, before losing the third 2-4.

G. G.