Thanks to Alan and Suzanne Whitewood for this news about the Olympic sailing coverage on the BBC. Ed
Two well known Island residents will be fronting the BBC’s coverage of the Olympic Sailing Events which will be held off Portland and Weymouth later this month.
Last weekend Leigh McMillan (pictured with Richard Simmonds) by took part in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race and is now in Portugal ready for the next Act of the Extreme 40 Racing Series.
Sailed with Olympic Champion
Leigh was persuaded to join his father on board ‘Eleonora’ for the Round the Island Race and sailed on the same boat as Olympic Champion Ben Ainslie for the first time.
Ben has competed in the Finn Class in the Olympics since 2004. He has named his boat ‘Rita’ and having won two consecutive Golds he is looking for a hat trick. ‘Rita ‘was on dry land for the JPMAM Round the Island Race based in the Race Village in Cowes Yacht Haven and on show to the public.
Olympic Games exhibition
Within the events centre at Cowes Yacht Haven an exhibition was staged by the RYA depicting GB achievements in the Olympic Games. It was full of interesting facts and showed memorabilia from past Olympic team members including some from the Island.
After the next act of the Extreme 40 Series in Porto, Leigh McMillan, who skippers The Wave Muscat for Team Oman, has a break from that competition. He will be co-commentator with Richard Simmonds for BBC Sports’ coverage of the Olympic Sailing. In the past Leigh ran an Olympic campaign in the Tornado Class.
Shirley joins Leigh on BBC
Another Islander, Shirley Robertson OBE will be the main presenter for BBC TV during the coverage of Olympic sailing. Shirley made it into the history books by becoming the first British woman to win two Olympic Gold Medals at consecutive games, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.
By the late 1990s she had won silver medals at the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Europe Class World Championships and competed in the 1992 Barcelona Games and 1996 Atlanta Games. In 2000 Shirley proved beyond doubt that she had mastered her class by winning gold at the Millennium Olympic Games in Sydney.
