Santiago Lange failed to qualify for Paris 2024 and announced his farewell to the Olympic circuit

Santiago Lange, at 61, announced his farewell to the “Olympic world” after failing to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Victoria Travascio in the Nacra 17 class, during the World Sailing Championship that is taking place in The Hague, Netherlands. A legend of Argentine and international Olympism who is leaving.” The road to Paris came to an end. The dream of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is over,” begins the message that the Olympic champion in Rio 2016 with Cecilia Carranza Saroli shared on his social networks. And he continues: “Tomorrow (Wednesday 16/8) I have to run the last three races of the World Championship and it will be my farewell to the Olympic circuit. I know I’m privileged to keep sailing at the highest level for so long, so I plan to enjoy every wave, every tack, every borneo of that last day. I want to enjoy with Vicky Tracascio, a GREAT friend who left me this cycle. I want to be very aware of that happiness that I still feel in the water and competing. I intend to be very present in every minute I have left, to leave that feeling of fullness burned into my memory.” The flag bearer of the Argentine delegation in Tokyo 2020 with Carranza Saroli said that being in Paris 2024 was a “dream” and he is “sad” for not having achieved it. Beyond the lament, he valued the career he built on the water for more than two decades. “I am happy for the road travelled, for the enormous joys that sport gave me and that is what I want to focus on tomorrow when I say goodbye to my Olympic passion. It will be a see you later and also a thank you to all those who accompanied me on this beautiful journey that will continue with new challenges, “he said.Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli won the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the Nacra 17 class. Photo: NA-AFP (Damien Meyer).Lange was an Olympian for the first time in Seoul 1988, and from there he participated in all editions of the Olympic Games except London 2012, getting two bronze medals in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 with Carlos Mauricio Espíndola in the Tornado class, and the aforementioned gold medal in Rio 2016 with Carranza Saroli, shortly after overcoming cancer. After reaching the maximum glory in the Brazilian Olympic event, the pair that formed with Carranza Saroli dissolved and Lange began a new Olympic cycle with Travascio, with the illusion of reaching Paris 2024, which would have been his eighth Olympic Games. Square for Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia BoscoFrom their performance in the World Championship, which was superior to that of Lange and Travascio, the duo formed by Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco is mathematically classified to Paris 2024 in the Nacra 17 class. “They were superior and the Argentines will have a great team to represent us. I sincerely wish you to fulfill your Olympic dream. It’s their turn to carry the flag,” said the legendary sailor. It is a privilege at 61 to still be in this class competing at this level. So it would be stupid of me if we were disappointed and didn’t try so hard because we’re not going to make it to Paris. I am proud of Mateo and Eugenia. Mateo was my coach at Rio 2016 and that means a lot to me, that he is now in a good position to fight for a medal for Argentina,” Lange said in an interview with World Sailing’s official website.

Original source in Spanish