As the capricious, fitful breezes finally expired in the intense late afternoon heat on the Bay of Marseille, when Race 10 for the Women’s Olympic Dinghy (ILCA 6) was abandoned Marit Bouwmeester effectively secured her second gold medal to become sailing’s most successful ever female Olympian.

Adding to gold in Rio 2016, silver in London 2012 and bronze in Beijing 2008, Holland’s 36-year old sailing superstar today surpasses Briton Hannah Mills’s two successive golds from Rio and Tokyo and silver in London, Italian windsurfer Alessandra Sensini gold in 2000, silver in Beijing and pair of bronzes from 1996 and 2004 as well as Kiwi windsurfer Barbara Kendall’s ‘full set’ earned consecutively from 1996-2004.

Marit Bouwmeester took time off after the 2021 Olympics after giving birth to her daughter Jessie Mae two years ago and since then has ensured that her role as a mother comes first and foremost. Lately she travels with her brother – a former sailor – and their combined families as is the case here.

“Here I often get back and she is asleep. I get a kiss and she tells me what a great day she has had with her cousins.” She said this week. In so doing today she has now fulfilled an aggrieved teenage assertion – started in 2005 after she was told by her National Authority that she was too young and too slight to represent at the Laser Worlds that year in Brazil – that she would be the best in the world one day.

Photo: World Sailing / Sander van der Borch

She recalled, again, this afternoon this was what ignited the fire inside her. “It feels incredible now because as a youngster my spot was taken away from me because I was told I was not good enough, that is when I said I am going to be the best of all time. So it feels good now.

“Then they told me I was too young, too light they were going to send Lisa Westerhof. That has spurred me all the time to be the best female sailor of all time. I have always chased that dream. When you get setbacks you get the chance to be the victim or to come back stronger.”

And she pointed to her recent 11th at January’s ILCA 6 Women’s World Championship in Argentina as the final catalyst, another time not to be a victim. “For me to be down at the worlds in Argentina was the best thing to happen because I chose to keep the grind, when I thought this is the biggest challenge for me to win the gold medal, to always come back stronger.”

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Her work rate and ethic are second to none whilst on the water her superior downwind speed is attributable to her sheer athleticism and an innate feel for the boat.

And there is no doubt that here on Marseille’s very demanding, challenging race arenas her Olympic Sailing experience has probably been her decisive experience. As athlete and commentator British double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson has seen how Bouwmeester operates through her entire career.

“She is really competitive. She is fierce and she has the Olympic experience. A difficult venue like this does not phase her, hence her dominance this week. I think she is more confident in her performance, there is even a little bit of ‘get out of the way’.

Photo: World Sailing / Sander van der Borch

“She is fierce, no nonsense, fast. She was helped here by a really difficult venue. It is hard to forecast, it is difficult to read and the harder it got the more she has excelled. I don’t think she is way faster than anyone else, I just think that around her they make errors and she doesn’t. She knows how to put a series together and win a medal. It has been a privilege to see her all the way through her career.”

China’s Xu Lila, (Lily) won the gold in Weymouth in 2012 ahead of Marit Bouwmeester, “She is so fast downwind. I think one of the things generally is that she trained a lot at home in Medemblik where there is a chop. But this time she has had a clear aim and spent a lot of time here and dominated the coaches’ races.”

And renowned British super ILCA coach Jon Emmet coached and sailed as a training partner with Marit Bouwmeester during the lead up to the Beijing games and has known her well ever since, “I was much more of a training partner for speed work coming into the China Games going to Lake Garda and Hyères.

“Marit was just one of the most motivated people I have ever worked with. The interesting thing she said to me after she had her daughter, Jessie, was that she was then the most keen to go sailing and actually forced her and Jaap (her coach) to focus their time on the water as real life took over.”

Anne Marie-Rindom celebrates here silver. Photo: World Sailing / Jean-Louis Carli

Emmet adds, “She has a mental toughness and that stands out. She is an incredible hard worker. Quite often when I was not working with her I would go to the gym and she’d be there. But when she was very young it was very clear what her ambitions were. She was always in there for the long haul with that mindset thing.

“As a sailor kinesthetically she is the best in the world in terms of that boat feel. If you look at her she is always looking one and a half waves ahead. I hate to use the word ‘natural’ but she was a very natural downwind sailor.”

After nine races Marit Bouwmeester goes into Tuesday’s Medal Race with a 21 points lead over Denmark’s 2021 Olympic champion Anne Marie Rindom who is assured of silver. The reigning world champion has been unable to race for the last three months because of a problem with her hand. “The Olympics, it is huge to even be here for the fourth time and to now secure medal. But it is a little bit disappointing because I felt I have underperformed a little bit this week.” Said Rindom.

“It hasn’t been the preparation I wanted, that has been tough. It is one of these things, the more you race and win the more confident you become, so it has been nerve racking, but I had to keep fighting and believe in myself.”

Tuesday’s medal race sees a battle for bronze between Norway’s Line Flem Hoest, Switzerland’s Maud Jayet and Croatia’s Elena Vorobeva.

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