Gareth Blanckenberg

Gareth Blanckenberg (born 3 June 1980 in Durban) is a retired South African sailor, who specialized in the Laser class.[1] He obtained top twenty finishes on his respective category in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004), and has also been training throughout most of his sailing career for Imperial Yacht Club in Cape Town, under his Irish-born personal coach Trevor Millar.[2][3]

Gareth Blanckenberg
Personal information
Full nameGareth Blanckenberg
Nationality South Africa
Born (1980-06-03) 3 June 1980
Durban, South Africa
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight80 kg (176 lb)
Sailing career
Class(es)Dinghy
ClubImperial Yacht Club
CoachTrevor Millar (IRL)

Blanckenberg made his official debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he competed in the Laser class. Sailing through the eleven-race series, he scored a career best result in the fifth heat with a momentous lead over a vast fleet of forty-three sailors, but dropped shortly to ninth in the medal round with a net score of 92.[4][5]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Blanckenberg qualified for his second South African team, as a 24-year-old lone sailor, in the Laser class by placing eighth and obtaining a berth from the 2003 ISAF World Championships in Cadiz, Spain.[2][6] Unlike his previous Olympics, Blanckenberg could not compensate from an early surge in the opening to climb again on top of the rankings, as he finished seventeenth out of forty-two sailors in the official fleet with a net score of 156.[7][8]

References
  1. "Gareth Blanckenberg". 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-13.
  2. Webster, Andrew; Makinana, Andiswe (29 June 2004). "Good hope for Cape Town's faces in Athens". Independent Online (South Africa). Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  3. "Hestrie jumps into final". News24. 28 September 2000. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  4. "Sydney 2000: Sailing – Men's Laser Class" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 131. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  5. "Sailing win for Blanckenberg". News24. 23 September 2000. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  6. "Yachting: Murdoch on verge of gaining Olympic spot". New Zealand Herald. 23 September 2003. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  7. "Sailing: Mixed Laser Class". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  8. Lombaard, Larry (20 August 2004). "SA swimmer, sailor make the grade". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2014.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.