The frighteningly fit strike gold

Boardsailing tends to slip past us. Literally slip past. It's out on the water and in the distance, while the rest of us are on shore checking there is enough charcoal, sunblock, sausages, and ice to get through the afternoon.

When they do come ashore boardsailers tend be fit looking types. Unlike almost every other sport it does not lend itself to a variety of shapes and sizes. The gender and height might change. From there it is all nil to minus body fat totals, and clearly defined muscles.

This can inspire guilt, causing some to turn away from them. However, every four years we turn towards them because they keep winning Olympic medals. This makes us extremely proud of them.

They have done it again. Tom Ashley has won a gold, making him one of the few boardsailing medalists not named Kendall.

The sport isn't kind to television, with it all tending to be a long way off. Plus, given a British and a French athlete were in the frame for the gold, the pictures were pitched to the big European markets. A restrained Peter Montgomery was left working hard to keep us in the picture.

Coverage is somewhat akin to the early America's Cup footage, before the snappy graphics, when we had to wait till they reached the buoy to find out who was winning.
Once the cameras got close it was obvious why there are no fat board sailors. They endlessly pump at large sails, squeezing speed from of any hint of breeze. Or, they battle to stay upright when there is too much wind.

It underlined the research, pointed out by Montgomery, of boardsailing being one of the two top sports in its demands on the body.

Making it tougher is it's not just one race. There are several. Last night's was the medal race, after most of the field had been cut. If Ashley and the other board sailors had been doing this for the better part of a week any suggestion of cutting the team budget, by removing the masseurs, should be met by borrowing equipment from the rifle shooters and commencing the discussion from there.

For my money anyone in Olympic boardsailing deserves a medal.