For almost two decades, Toni Wilhelm was one of the strongest German athletes in the national sailing team. He coped with the low point at his Olympic debut, when he only came 30th in Athens, as well as the failure to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games. He kept getting back up, kept motivating himself for another four years of hard training. The culmination of his great passion almost came four years ago. In Weymouth, Wilhelm already had his hand on bronze, had started the medal final in third place, but had to watch the medal ceremony in fourth place.
The star from the Wüttemberg Yacht Club then set out once again to chase his dream of a medal. Still without any competition or sparring partners in his own country, he teamed up with his coach Pierre Loquet and international partners to form training groups. Plagued by injuries and accompanied by poor results, the now 33-year-old fought his way back to the top of the world rankings. With a brilliant race win in Rio de Janeiro, he was able to show that he is one of the best Olympic surfers in the world. But it wasn't quite enough for a medal. "I have to take my hat off to those at the front who I couldn't quite keep up with in this regatta," said the always fair surfer. His heavy cold during the Olympic regatta and the gastrointestinal infection treated the day before the medal final did not make it any easier for the man from the Black Forest to perform on the Olympic courses in his third and final Olympic appearance.
Toni Wilhelm ends his career in sixth place in the Olympic regatta, reconciled with himself and his sport. In Guanabara Bay, he fought his way back to fifth place in the final in his last Olympic appearance. Just like four years ago, Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberge had already secured gold before the final, ahead of Britain's Nick Dempsey. Frenchman Pierre Le Coq won bronze ahead of Poland's Piotr Myszka in a thrilling showdown. "I'm friends with both of them and would have liked them both to win. The Pole now feels like I did four years ago and I feel sorry for him." The "Flying Dutchman" Dorian van Rijsselberge and the Dutch royal family cheered on a support boat on the medal course under the Sugar Loaf Mountain and in front of Flamengo Beach, which was packed with thousands of fans.
Toni Wilhelm, the solo surfer among the sailors in German sailing, is ending his career "with mixed feelings": "It's a shame that I couldn't win the medal, but I'm one of the world's best surfers and my career has given me so much." The sports scientist continued: "I want to stay true to the sport for the rest of my life, because it is my life." Following Wilhelm's retirement, there are no successors in sight in RS:X surfing. The departure of the man who is a great athlete even without Olympic medals or World Championship titles has torn a hole in Sailing Team Germany that will not be filled in surfing for the foreseeable future.
