Swiss diplomat finds her sea legs

By HELEN TUNNAH

Officially Sylvie Matteucci speaks as the Swiss Ambassador to New Zealand when she is asked who will win the America's Cup.

It is too close to call, she says, between her native team Alinghi and her host's side Team New Zealand.

But ask her who, in her heart, she wants to win and there's no hesitation.

"Of course the Swiss. I want the Alinghi team to win. This is quite natural. All my Kiwi friends will be teasing me."

That ribbing began almost three years ago when Mrs Matteucci arrived in Wellington to take up her posting as ambassador just a month after Team New Zealand beat Prada to hold the America's Cup.

A few weeks later, some leading New Zealand sailors jumped ship to join a new Swiss team.

"One of my friends here said 'Well I think, Sylvie, you will be just meeting your first diplomatic challenge'."

Mrs Matteucci flies from Wellington to Auckland today to support the Swiss in the first America's Cup race.

She said Alinghi's 5-1 victory over Oracle to win the challenger series - the Louis Vuitton Cup - was "quite a remarkable achievement for them".

Swiss people had warmed to Alinghi even though many team members were from other nations (including up to seven New Zealanders on the race boat).

Fifteen nationalities are represented on the team, and Mrs Matteucci said the Alinghi approach reflected the new political voice in Switzerland.

Last year the Swiss voted in a referendum to join the United Nations, after staying out of Nato and the European Union and remaining neutral in World War II.

"It's a very multicultural team and this is exactly what we have in Switzerland. We have a large proportion of people who have migrated from other countries.

"For us, it is quite a cosmopolitan, modern approach.

"There is a very big support [among] the Swiss for this new approach and I think Alinghi is surfing on this new attitude."

Mrs Matteucci said whatever the result of the America's Cup the Swiss Embassy would host an event, probably at Alinghi's base.

"Whatever the result, we will have something to celebrate," she said.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

Racing schedule and results