Four-time world champion Giles Scott arrived in Rio with one goal in mind – bring home the Olympic gold medal from the Finn class sailing competition.
Giles, who graduated from the University in 2008 with a BSc in Geography with Geology, picks up the Finn baton from previous British Olympic champions, Iain Percy (Sydney 2000) and Sir Ben Ainslie (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012).
With gold at both Rio Test Events and victory in 16 of his 18 world-ranked regattas since 2012, Giles is one of the leading contenders to claim the Rio crown.
“For three-and-a-half years winning gold has been the main driving force behind everything I’ve been doing, every day of the year,” said Giles. “Everything I do on any given day, I want to have a positive impact on my chances of winning Olympic gold, but there are an awful lot of people out there that are trying very, very hard to do the same.”
Click here to read more about Giles Scott’s Olympic challenge. The Finn class sailing competition opened yesterday in Rio. Southampton graduates Alison Young and Lily Xu began their challenge in the Women’s Laser Radial competition on Tuesday.
Southampton alumnus Ben Saxton – who we feature tomorrow – also started his challenge in the multihull Nacra 17 yesterday afternoon.