Swedish Star sailor Fredrik Lööf embarks on his Olympic campaign for gold this weekend in San Francisco. Challenging some of the world’s best Star sailors, Paul Cayard, Mark Reynolds and Philippe Kahn, in the North American Championship, he is charging for the top. But this is just the first step in his tough schedule for the Olympics in Athens 2004.

Lööf is one of Sweden’s top ten athletes and for the second year in a row he is number one on ISAF’s Star world ranking chart. He is preparing for the Olympic Games for the fourth time, and his ‘go for gold’ campaign starts in San Francisco tomorrow.

Commenting on the campaign Lööf said: “I have come fifth twice and picked up the bronze once, in Finn. In sailing Star the conditions are different, but I have never before felt so charged and self confident as I do now,” says Fredrik, 33, who collected the silver medal in the Star World Championship in Cadiz, Spain, a month ago.

He continued: “The performance from me and my crew Anders Ekström in the last two years have been good and we are in very good shape, both physically and mentally. That sets a good platform for the tough time ahead.”