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Blanca MANCHÓN had
already begun to make a name for herself on the
windsurfing circuit when she became the youngest sailor
at the 2004 Olympic Sailing Competition and 2005 has
been another phenomenal year. With wins at four of the
five ISAF graded events she has contested in the
nomination period, her achievements speak for
themselves. The 2005 ISAF Grade W Mistral World
Championship took place in Italy in May and in an event
beset by difficult conditions, Blanca blitzed the
competition to take the gold medal with a 13 point
margin.
The Mistral European Youth Champion ran concurrently
with the Worlds and Blanca won this title 120 points
clear from the next youth sailor. It was therefore
little surprise later in the year at the Volvo Youth
Sailing ISAF World Championship in Busan, Korea that
Blanca should top the podium again. This time she did so
with a day to spare, after winning six of the eleven
races. Her results have seen her steadily climb the ISAF
World Sailing Rankings to end the nomination period at
number three. This young windsurfer is certainly one to
watch for the future.
|
| ISAF World Sailing Ranking at the end of
the nomination period (3 August 2005) - 3 |
3rd - HRH Princess Sofia Trophy, March 2005 – ISAF
Grade 2
1st - Mistral World Championship, May 2005 –
Grade W
1st - World Festival on the Beach, May 2005 –
ISAF Grade 3
1st – Mistral European Youth Championship, May
2005
1st – Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World
Championship, July 2005 – ISAF Grade 2 |
| Name: |
Blanca MANCHON (ESP) |
| Place of Birth: |
Spain |
Date of Birth: |
6 March 1987 |
| Profession: |
Student |
ISAF Sailor ID: |
ESPMB2 |
| What inspired you to take up sailing? |
All my family have been my inspiration
as all of them have sailed since a very young age, and
my mother participated in a Spanish windsurfing
championship when she was five months pregnant with me! |
| What was the first boat you sailed? |
It was a beachcomber for beginner
sailors |
Age: |
7 |
| How did you buy your first boat and
what was it? |
My first windsurf board had been my
brother's with a sail that dad made specifically for me.
It was a Bic Calypso. |
| Name your first sailing club: |
Club Nautico Sevilla |
| What was the first event you competed
in? |
An Andalusian Championship in the
Guadalquivir river in Sevilla |
Year: |
1992 |
| What was the first event you won? |
A Sailing league in the Santa Maria
Port, Cadiz |
Year: |
1994 |
| What are the main achievements/personal
highlights of your sailing career? |
Without any doubt, I would
choose the Junior, Youth and overall World Championships
European runner-up and overall European Champonship 2005
8th position at the 2004 Olympic Sailing Competition |
| What are you future sailing goals? |
2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing |
| What does sailing mean to you? |
Sailing is for me the way
of expressing how I feel each moment, which is reflected
in the regattas in my may of thinking and reacting at
each time and made me win or lose the regattas. |
| Who has had the greatest impact on your
sailing career and why? |
The aspect that has had the
greatest impact in this sport is seeing how any bad
decision, any mistake can have important consequences
and have you judged afterwards. Without being able to
avoid it, in the sailing environment sometimes you
depend only on your luck. I have also been very close to
some poeple who have lost their dreams due to bad luck
on the sea, without being able to avoid it - that is
what has the greatest impact on me. |
| Who is your sailing hero? |
I think that every person
who can sacrifice and wants to give everything is a hero.
There are only a few people who can achieve it at the
end, those who do it without cheating are my heroes. |
| What other sports do you enjoy? |
I love gymnastics, surfing,
wakeboarding... |
| What does being nominated for the ISAF
Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2005 mean to you? |
It is a great honour to be
nominated and I am very grateful to ISAF for having
recognized my sport achievements. |
| If you were voted as the winner, what
would this mean to you? |
It would one of the
greatest things in my life for me and for all my family
who have lived so closely through my sports career and
have always supported me at all times, in the good and
bad moments. They are the only ones that have always
believed in me, so this Award would be for each of them.
Besides it is fantastic for any sports person lies
having his/her achievements and daily effort recognized,
even more when you are 18 and have lived very strong
experiences in competitions. The experience of being
awarded would without any doubt be one of them |
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