Australian Paralympic sailors left high and dry for Tokyo 2020

THE entire cast of Australia’s most successful team at the Paralympics has been forced off the water and into premature Games retirement with their sport booted from the Tokyo 2020.

The Australian sailing team of Russell Boaden, Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and (front row) Liesl Tesch, Daniel Fitzgibbon and Matt Bugg.

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THE entire cast of Australia’s most successful team at the Paralympics has been forced off the water and into premature Games retirement with their sport booted for Tokyo 2020.

The victorious Australian sailing team arrive home on Thursday with two gold and a silver in the knowledge they will be watching many of their Rio teammates in other sports from the couch at the 2020 Paralympics.

Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, the first Australian sailors in history to defend Paralympic gold, have vowed to keep fighting for the sports reinstatement onto the Games program, maintaining it is both gender friendly and caters to athletes with the highest classification.

Liesl Tesch and Dan Fitzgibbon sailed into the history books by winning gold in the SKUD18 class with two races to spare in Rio.

Yachting Australia President and Sydney to Hobart veteran Matt Allen said his organisation will also do whatever is necessary to have the sport reinstated after it was dropped from the program last year.

“This sport has given me everything, not just medals,’’ said Fitzgibbon, Australia’s greatest sailing Paralympian with two gold and a silver from three Games and a former Olympic sailing aspirant before an accident left him a quadriplegic.

“I’m married with a kid now through sailing, all my friends are here and I’m happy and healthy

“This is a terrible decision. Sailing is the only sport someone like me can do other than boccia.

“I’m a quadriplegic and I can be out there in 45 knots, experiencing life, using my sporting mind and mixing it with both genders.’’

The Australian pair after their second gold medal together.

Teach said if sailing had stayed on the Paralympic program she and Fitzgibbons had planned to chase their third gold together.

“It’s forced us to retire when we didn’t want to,’’ she said.

Teach, the former captain of the wheelchair basketball team before switching to sailing, is part of a movement educating and encouraging sailors and coaches in disability sailing so the numbers are there for Games re-inclusion.

Every members of the Australian sailing team won a medal in Rio with Fitzgibbon and Tesch dominating the SKUD 18 class.

Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden and Jonathan Harris won gold in the Sonar class and Matt Bugg a silver in the 2.4mR boat.