The Argentine delegation that will be present at the
Olympic Games
added a new athlete this Tuesday and yachting added its eighth member.
This is
Francisco Guaragna Rigonat,
who
won the place in the ILCA 7 class
during the World Cup held in the waters of Adelaide, Australia.
The 26-year-old sailor, trained at the
Junín Nautical Club,
finished the championship in 38th place out of 152 competitors and was favored by the even better performance of the Guatemalan
Juan Maegli
(13th) and the Chilean
Clemente Seguel Lacámara
(24th ), who were left with two of the seven places that were at stake for
Paris 2024
and freed up two places for South America.
The thing is that both Seguel and Maegli had already achieved Olympic qualification at the
2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile,
by winning the silver and bronze medals respectively, so they freed up two places for South America.
One of them went to Guaragna and the other went to the Brazilian Bruno Fontes.
In this way, the Argentine joins
Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco,
who took over from Santiago Lange and will compete in Nacra 17,
Francisco Saubidet Birkner
(iQ Foil),
Lucía Falasca
(ILCA 6),
Chiara Ferretti
(iQ Foil) and
Catalina Turienzo
(Kite Foil).
🇦🇷❤️TO THE GREAT ARGENTINE YACHTING HEALTH 🎫
These are the 7⃣ Argentine sailors classified so far for the next @juegosolimpicos de Paris 2024. pic.twitter.com/REdEI8GRql
— DEPORTV (@canaldeportv) January 30, 2024
Thus,
Guaragna will compete in his second Olympic Games
after finishing in 24th place in
Tokyo 2021
and, after three years of competing at a high level, he will seek to improve his performance and, why not, reach the Medal Race.
"My life revolves around the Olympics.
The Argentine Yachting Federation (FAY) trusted me and that fills me with pride. I also know that it is a burden, it is nice, but a very big responsibility. I have to respond from today for the trust that they gave me," is detailed on the federation's website.
Argentina, land of great sailors
Yachting is the second sport that has given Argentina the most Olympic medals in all of history, with a total of 10 and only behind boxing (24).
They are divided as follows:
Rio de Janeiro 2016: Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza (gold in the Nacra 17 class)
London 2012: Lucas Calabrese and Juan De La Fuente (bronze in 470).
Beijing 2008: Santiago Lange and Carlos Espínola (bronze in Tornado).
Athens 2004: Santiago Lange and Carlos Espínola (bronze in Tornado).
Sydney 2000: Carlos Espínola (silver in Mistral).
Sydney 2000: Javier Conte and Juan De La Fuente (bronze in 470).
Sydney 2000: Serena Amato (bronze in Europe).
Atlanta 1996: Carlos Espínola (silver in Mistral).
Rome 1960: Héctor Calegaris, Jorge Del Río and Jorge Salas Chaves (silver in Dragon).
London 1948: Emilio Homps, Rodolfo Rivademar, Rufino Rodríguez de la Torre, Enrique A. Sieburger, Enrique C. Sieburger and Julio Sieburger (silver in the 6 meter class)