KEY POINTS:
He's had to wait four more years, but Andrew Murdoch's long and winding road to become an Olympian is about to reach fruition.
A solid medal prospect in the Laser dinghy class, Murdoch will be one of five debutants among the nine New Zealand sailors competing at the Beijing Games venue of Qingdao.
He has known since last November that he would be going, a situation that contrasts with his roller-coaster ride during a failed bid to gain selection for last Olympics.
Before the 2004 Athens Games, Murdoch took Yachting New Zealand (YNZ) to court, arguing that the national body had disregarded its own criteria in nominating Hamish Pepper for the Laser berth.
He won round one of his legal fight, with the Sports Disputes Tribunal deciding in his favour, only for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to deliver the knockout blow by backing YNZ's appeal.
Murdoch, 26, said the setback had "just made me more hungry" and meant his selection this time around tasted all the sweeter.
"I guess it does," he said.
"I've had to wait four years longer, so it's a pretty good feeling to be going finally."
Murdoch and Pepper will be team-mates at Qingdao, Pepper sailing with Carl Williams in the Star keelboat event, a class in which the pair won the world title in 2006.
Northland-born Murdoch came close to claiming his own world crown last year, finishing second behind Australian Tom Slingsby in Portugal.
At this year's world championship in New South Wales in February, he was 13th, with Slingsby again coming out on top.
Murdoch's results since have included ending runner-up at French Olympic Week.
He has also had two training stints in Qingdao, where the 42-strong Laser fleet begins racing on August 12 and where conditions are expected to be light but choppy.
Murdoch said the predicted weather made correct tactics and being able to sniff the wind all the more important.
This was especially so in a one-design class like the Laser, where no-one had a boatspeed advantage because of research and development.
"It means your tactical game has to be bang on and you need to be picking the shifts well," he said.
"It's going to be a real case of having your head out of the boat and focusing on the environment around you to turn in a good result."
Murdoch has his sights set firmly on a medal and believed every New Zealand sailor had a good chance of ending up on the podium.
"That's what the selection procedure this time was focused towards, sending people who have a realistic shot," he said.
"I personally believe everyone in the sailing team has a realistic opportunity of doing that.
"Not all of us are going to do it, that's just the way life is. But I all think we have a shot."
While Slingsby would go in as favourite for Laser gold, Murdoch said the competitive nature of the class meant there were dangers throughout the field.
"Some people are going to handle the pressure better and some who are expected to be at the front won't be there," he said.
"I'm not focusing on just a couple of people because, if I do, I'll be surprised by others. I'll just be racing the whole fleet."
- NZPA
