Tokyo Olympics: Lisa Darmanin chasing Australian sailing history

She’s a self-described nerdy academic with a passion for the environment, aiming to write a new chapter in her sports history at the Olympics.

Lisa Darmanin is chasing a bit of history for female sailors in Tokyo.

Lisa Darmanin has always been the studious half of one of sailings most successful partnerships.

The academic with her feet firmly in the ground when she’s not racing at speed, high in the air on carbon fibre foils with cousin Jason Waterhouse on the Olympic Nacra 17 catamaran.

Now this smart sailor with a NSW University degree in commerce is chasing a spot in the history books as the first Australian woman to win two Olympic medals in sailing.

The Nacra 17 duo are one of Australia’s big gold medal hopes in Tokyo. Pic: Sailing Energy.

“I hadn’t realised no Australian woman has won two medal in sailing,” Darmanin said ahead of her regatta in Enoshima where she and Waterhouse will bid to go one better than the silver they won in Rio five years ago.

“I’d also like to be the first non 470 sailor to win gold. That would be special.”

Darmanin, who has a passion for the environment and is doing renewable energy consulting away from the water, is the only female to have won a medal in a mixed class.

Australian Sailing’s gold medals in 2000 and 2008 were both won by 470 teams and the other silver claimed by women was snatched by the match racing crew in 2012.

Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell on their way to winning gold on Sydney Harbour at the 2000 Games.

Separate classes for women were only introduced in 1988 and it then took 12 years for Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell to become Australia’s first female gold medallists.

Fellow 470 sailors Elise Rechichi and Tess Parkinson then followed suit in 2008 with the women’s match-racing crew of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Wittey wining silver at the London Games in 2012.

Now Darmanin and skipper Waterhouse, both from Sydney’s northern beaches, are among the gold medal favourites in Tokyo.

Darmanin said it took her a long while to describe herself as an athlete but is proud of the strength and fitness she will take to Tokyo and so crucial on the Nacra 17 which has had foils added since the last Games.

The job of a crew on a Nacra 17 is physically demanding.

“I’m a bit of a nerd I guess. I am a bit of a nerd, not as sporty as my fellow Olympians,” said the 29-year-old.

“Andwhile I view myself as an athlete now, I initially didn’t.

“I am definitely stronger. The foiling boats are a lot more physical and I think you will see a lot more male crews than in the past this time round. I just need to make sure I set the kite a lot better than they do.”

Australia has three strong gold medal hopes in sailing in Darmanin and Waterhouse, multiple world champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryan from the Gold Coast and Newcastle respectively and Perth Laser sailor Matt Wearn.

Sailing in Enoshima kicks off on July 25 with Laser and Laser Radial racing.

The Nacra 17 regatta has its first three races scheduled for July 28.

AMANDA LULHAM will be at the Olympic covering various sports, including sailing.