German sailor Lutz/Beucke won the Olympic silver medal

DThree medals-less than three hours: at the German Sailing Association (DSV), you have never experienced such a day. At lunch time on Tuesday, Paul Korhoff and Erica Sturmer fell into the 26-degree warm water of Sagami Bay on Enoshima Island. They cheered and held hands. This is how German sailors have participated in the Olympic Games since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The most successful result achieved on the previous year. 57 years after Willy Kuhweide won the gold medal at the same location in the 1964 Olympics, the sailing area about an hour south of Tokyo has proven to be very suitable for fulfilling the German sailing dream, winning a silver medal and Two bronze medals.

Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke caused the biggest cheers in the DSV team. Because the Dutch team leading the Germans in the 13th and final game before the final medal game only finished ninth, Lutz and Burke were able to jump to fifth place in a tense and tense match. The second step on the podium. As in 2016, the Brazilian duo Martine Grael / Kahena Kunze won the gold medal. “No one could tell us whether it was silver or bronze in the beginning-but we just celebrated anyway,” Lutz said in the first minute after crossing the finish line when the two 30-year-olds were only 4.99 meters long each. The ship shook for the other few minutes and lay in their arms.

Since 2007, the 2017 and 2020 European Championship duo have actually been on the same boat. After the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics were almost absent, Susann Beucke’s fibula fracture almost prevented her from participating in the Tokyo Olympics in early 2020, and the huge pressure disappeared from them.

“It’s been an incredibly long road for us, and we have really gone through a lot. But now we can finally use our potential, it’s just a wonderful feeling,” Beucke said, with tears in his eyes. I remembered a common bet: 12 years ago, the two sailors vowed that one day they would let their daughters be named after them. If they have ever won an Olympic medal.

Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel were less excited about their reaction to their second bronze medal at the Olympics, but they were still very satisfied. After their success at the Rio Olympics five years ago, the duo from Berlin sailing for the North German Yacht Club confidently flirted with “better medals” before the Tokyo race. But before the final medal competition, the 12th and 14th places in the competition had minimized the chances of winning the gold medal.