Tom’s lass sets sail
CAUGHT up in the euphoria of Tom Slingsby’s gold medal triumph, his Italian girlfriend, Flavia Tartaglini, last night declared she wanted to sail with the champion – at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
With the new mixed catamaran class set to be introduced to the Games in four years, Tartaglini – an RS:X sailor for the Azzurri who only just missed Games selection – said Slingsby would be her mentor in multihull racing.
Tartaglini was with Slingsby and more than 200 Australian sailing supporters as they celebrated Australia’s first individual gold of the London Games at Portland’s The Cove House Inn on Monday night.
Beer and champagne flowed freely as the crowd saluted Slingsby and at least one other gold-medal-winning crew, 49ers Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, who have already won their regatta ahead of their medal race today.
Tartaglini plans on moving in with Slingsby at Gosford until he leaves for America’s Cup duty with the Oracle Racing Team in San Francisco next year.
‘‘When he goes there (US) I will come back to Italy to sort out my future and then I will come back to Australia,’’ Tartaglini said.
‘‘I would love to do catamaran. They’re putting the mixed teams (in the Olympics) and I really want to go back to Australia because I will have Tom there and who better to teach me sailing than him? I want to go there and learn from these guys because they are just the best sailors in the world.’’
Tartaglini may have been a spectator at Weymouth and Portland on Monday but the Italian helped shape Slingsby’s medal destiny before the Games. Slingsby met her at Italy’s Lake Garda, where the Gosfordbased sailor ensured he would be at peak fitness before returning to England to face the race of his life a fortnight later.
‘‘He was in Garda training hard and I was trying to be serious and support him in his training,’’ she said. ‘‘I was cycling with him and now I’m really fit.
‘‘I could have raced in the Olympics I think but it was nice to watch him train hard – he was really focused and determined to win this.
‘‘I met him two years ago and he’s been concentrating on these Olympics for two years. You can see really clearly what his goals were and what he achieved and I think he’s the best sailor I’ve ever met – he’s awesome.’’
Tartaglini says she’ll spend another day with Slingsby in England before the couple make the trek back to Australia after the gold medallist’s rock star status among the sailing fraternity was evident at a party to honour his feat.
Slingsby’s father, Dave, mother, Mavis and sisters Alana and Jessica celebrated the medal milestone alongside Australia’s chef de mission Nick Green on a blustery Portland evening.