On Wednesday, Josefin Olsson deservedly rested after three eventful competition days in the water off the island of Enoshima just south of the Japanese capital Tokyo.
The 31-year-old started by coming in 34th and 15th place in the first and second sailing, respectively, but after the nightmare start he has scratched himself properly, won a race and otherwise come in eighth, fourth and sixth.
– I have sailed well the last two days so I take that feeling with me for the future. Now it will be nice to have a day off. It has been intense days with a lot of wind and warm weather that take energy, Olsson said after the sixth sailing.
With four races left, plus final, she has made it all the way up to silver place.
– The funny thing is that after her bad start to say the least, she has bitten together and performed better and better. It is fantastic, says national team captain Magnus Grävare on site in Japan.
He believes that Olsson is “one of five or six” who can win a medal. Among the competitors at the top are, among others, three Scandinavians who are all her training friends. It is about the Dane Anne-Marie Rindom who leads the summary, the Norwegian Line Flem Høst who is fourth and the Finnish fifth Tuula Tenkanen.
– Josefin Olsson has a chance of an Olympic medal in the sailing form laser radial.
Photo: Daniel Stiller / Bildbyrån
Is it an advantage or a disadvantage that she knows them well?
– I do not think I do anything. I think she feels that she is strong against them and that it is good to know how they behave, says Grävare and adds:
– There are two days in the basic sailing plus one final day left and I think it will go both down and up before we are done.
What can be crucial is who handles the dramatic weather changes best. Although typhoon Nepartak may not have really lived up to the chaos that the forecasts warned of, it has really blown out in the Japanese bay – but what the sailors have the greatest respect for is something else.
– The second aspect is the heat, which is a big factor. We have cool vests, drink a lot, have parasols and run ice baths. It consumes a lot, says Grävare.
– The typhoon, which some did not even want to call a typhoon, meant that we got a fairly large weather change with rather unstable weather. But now it has returned to southwest wind so now we will have very good conditions.
Although Josefin Olsson is the one who so far has lived up to expectations, Magnus Grävare has not given up hope of the other three medal chances.
In the men’s laser, Jesper Stålheim has won one of six sailings but has a bit up to the top from his overall eleventh place. Max Salminen is in the same position after four races in finn dinghy, while Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström are seventh overall in 470 after taking first place and 15th place so far.
– We have a good team and everyone has good opportunities but it is tough. We have the potential to do really well together, but then we have to perform at the top. So far we have not burned our chances but, apart from Josefin, we have not made it easy for ourselves either, says Magnus Grävare.