Allan Garbutt was amazed when a gold medal fell out of the small Swiss parcel. "It's incredible, I didn't expect it," said the sailing teacher from Otago Boys High School, where Coutts also went to school around 30 years ago.
For years, photographs in the Dunedin school have documented the career of the most famous pupil at the high school. After the AC victory in 2000, a jersey from Team New Zealand was added. "After the great success in this year's AC, I was in Russell's ears for a long time, asking him to send us another memento. But the medal ? I didn't expect that," says Garbutt.
But why is Russell Coutts giving away his only Olympic medal, which he had to fight so hard for in the Finn dinghy in 1984? In any case, Coutts doesn't seem to care much about the medal any more; it could just as easily have been lost in the post on its way to the other side of the world.
Perhaps this is a sign that Coutts will finally end his New Zealand era after the victory for "Alinghi". If so, saying goodbye to the medal he won for New Zealand in Los Angeles in 1984 would be just another step away from his former home.
Understandable, because who wants to live in a country whose inhabitants call their most famous sailor a "traitor to the fatherland", refuse to serve him in restaurants and even send him death threats? In any case, Coutts has announced that he is officially moving to Switzerland with his family.
