The national sailing team is dressed for the Olympics: "Now it feels real!"

Anyone who was ever worried that the German national sailing team might have problems with the heat in the Japanese Olympic area off Enoshima knows better since the official dressing on 18 June. The six female and four male sailors of the German Sailing Team, their coaches, the Olympic supervisors and team manager Nadine Stegenwalner faced the heat marathon of this special summit meeting on 18 June in Hamburg-Dulsberg calmly, relaxed and full of anticipation for the Games of their lives. With outside temperatures of 35 degrees, which felt more like 50 degrees on the hot tarmac of the tour stop of the DOSB clothing roadshow with many Olympic partners in Hamburg-Dulsberg, the ten sailing athletes didn't lose any of their enjoyment of this preliminary highlight until the evening.

"It feels real now," said Nacra 17 headsailer Alica Stuhlemmer from the Kiel Yacht Club, summarising the mood in the team that day. The fact that, in addition to the beach volleyball players, riders and other sports stars, all German sailors came together one last time before the start of the Olympic regatta on 25 July was mainly thanks to those who travelled a long way or made an extra effort: Laser world champion Philipp Buhl and his coach Alex Schlonski interrupted a training camp near Gothenburg in Sweden, took the ferry overnight and travelled back that evening. The 49er World Championship bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel rushed to Hamburg with coach Marc Pickel from the last test regatta in Santander, Spain, coming straight from the airport to get kitted up.

The mood in the team on this hottest summer's day in Hamburg signalled good things to come. 37 days before the first Olympic starting signal, which will be given on 25 July for world champion Philipp Buhl in the Laser and Laser Radial helmswoman Svenja Weger, before the other crews start the Olympic regatta day after day, the athletes took the opportunity to talk to each other and enjoyed the selection from the Olympic equipment collection with podium, presentation and training clothing. The colour concept was well received by the athletes. Whether red tone-on-tone designs, bright shades of yellow, baggy-style jackets reminiscent of the 1980s, different fabrics and transparent elements - the designs provide a fresh look overall. The Olympians also enjoyed this day because they know that the Olympic Games ahead of them will be very different from usual: due to the extremely regulated stakes, they will primarily be competitive games, not games of encounter. It will not be possible to share the experience with local fans - international visitors have long been excluded from these masked Olympic Games. The athletes, like officials and journalists, will travel exclusively in "bubbles" from the Olympic Village or from the hotel by shuttle to their competition venues and back.

"At our first Olympic Games in 2016, focussing on the competition was one of our strengths," recalls 49er foresailor Thomas Plößel with a smile, "this time, due to the circumstances, we will automatically be concentrating entirely on the regatta. The sport alone takes centre stage." To ensure that the Olympic Games are a success for German sailing, a 34-strong team is on hand: 10 athletes (6 women, 4 men) will be competing for Olympic medals in six boats. They will be supported in Enoshima by six coaches: Alex Schlonski (Laser Standard), Marc Pickel (49er), Jonasz Stelmaszyk (Laser Radial), Ian Barker (49erFX), Olympic Performance Manager David Lynch (Nacra 17) and Riccardo de Felice (470 Women) as well as physio-therapist Johanna "Jojo" Wichelmann, plastics technician, boat builder and FES man Daniel "Blacky" Schwarze, Oliver Freiheit as national technology coach at the German Sailing Association (DSV). DSV sports director and team manager Nadine Stegenwalner is directing the Olympic campaign in her third Olympic Games. Her assessment of the chances of winning a medal: "It's not easy to judge this time. But I can say that I'm confident that some disciplines will win medals. That's plural ..."