NOW THE DUST HAS SETTLED

Harty discusses the lows and highs of Olympic life with Team GB's Sam Sills.

- Peter Hart & Sam Sills

'LOST DOG. Blind in one eye, one leg missing, recently castrated... answers to the name of "Lucky"."

It was the joke I was reminded of as Sam recounted his pothole ridden Olympic journey - car smash, busted toe, fishing nets, on water crashes and much broken equipment (but happily not castrated). If Hollywood decide to make a film of his life, they'll need someone pretty robust in the lead role... Jason Statham, perhaps? The upshot was that despite having to use and retune a completely different set of gear (normally many weeks work) just days before the start, he still managed to qualify for the medal races and score fifth.

I've known Sam since he was a lad and have admired both his talent and his maverick attitude. His has not been the traditional route to the top. Having won junior world championships he became disenchanted with the system and left for a short while. However, he returned to the British Sailing Team in '21 when the class changed to iQFOIL, and fought his way through qualification, which is arguably harder than the Olympics themselves.

DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPER

PH: I found Sam resting in Portland and recovering from a nasty neck injury a fully powered, foil breech catapult?

SS: "No! We were at a post Olympics party celebrating Ellie Aldridge's kiting gold medal, when someone decided to do a bar dive and landed straight on my head. It's been really bad but I'm going to be all right. Let's talk about more positive stuff!"

PH: You hear many stories about the Olympic Blues - athletes feeling under constant pressure; driven by a "I'll be happy when..." attitude; and then discovering even when they succeed, that nothing has changed. How was it and how is it for you?