Olympic sailing: The bronze party marathon has begun

Tatjana Pokorny

· 23.08.2016

Olympic sailing: the bronze party marathon has begun

Photo: Sven Jürgensen / NRV

Right into the heart of the sailing fans: the bronze medal won by 49er sailors Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel was worth its weight in gold

The national sailing team and their bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel are back. The party marathon has begun

A grand reception in Frankfurt with German President Joachim Gauck, a jubilant reception committee in Hamburg, a party in Kiel and an appearance on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin on Thursday: the 49er bronze medallists of the XXXI Olympic Games are back, and everyone wants to celebrate with them and the national sailing team. The first stop after the Frankfurt stopover was Hamburg. At the airport, the German Sailing Association and the North German Regatta Club had organised a celebratory reunion with the sailors. The bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel enjoyed bathing in the crowd and seeing many friends and supporters again.

Photo: Sven Jürgensen / NRV Great reception for Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel at Hamburg Airport: NRV and DSV had organised the reception committee

That evening, they travelled on to Kiel, where friends had organised a lavish party in the "Villa". On Thursday, the medallists will be attending a reception in Berlin (YACHT online reported) and will not be resting for long. Here are the first up-to-date pictures of Rio's sailing heroes at the reception in Hamburg. Photographer Sven Jürgensen was on site and captured the beautiful scenes. The 49er sailors Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel have given German sailing its first Olympic medal since 2008 and outshone the not-so-rosy results at the end of the Olympic regatta with their brilliance.

Fans, flags, DSV, NRV and NRV Olympic Team: The reception hall in Terminal 2 of Hamburg Airport was all about sailing on Tuesday evening

Photo: Sven Jürgensen / NRV Fans, flags, DSV, NRV and NRV Olympic Team: The reception hall in Terminal 2 of Hamburg Airport was all about sailing on Tuesday evening

Photo: Sven Jürgensen / NRV The arrival in Hamburg from the perspective of bronze medallist Thomas Plößel: overwhelming!

Good luck to the well-trained: Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel have a party marathon ahead of them after the night flight from Rio. At the second stop after the reception in Frankfurt, they make an alert and happy impression

Photo: Sven Jürgensen / NRV Good luck to the well-trained: Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel have a party marathon ahead of them after the night flight from Rio. At the second stop after the reception in Frankfurt, they make an alert and happy impression

Photo: Sven Jürgensen / NRV Festival at the airport: Sailing is rarely celebrated like this in Germany

Tatjana Pokorny

Sports reporter

Tatjana “tati” Pokorny is the author of nine books. As a reporter for Europe's leading sailing magazine YACHT, she also works as a correspondent for the German Press Agency (DPA), the Hamburger Abendblatt and other national and international media. In summer 2024, Tatjana will be reporting from Marseille on her ninth consecutive Olympic Games. Other core topics have been the America's Cup since 1992, the Ocean Race since 1993, the Vendée Globe and other national and international regattas and their protagonists. Favorite discipline: Portraits of and interviews with sailing personalities. When she started out in sports journalism, she was still intensively involved with basketball and other sports, but sailing quickly became her main focus. The reason? The declared optimist says: “There is no other sport like it, no other sport with such interesting and intelligent personalities, no other sport so diverse, no other sport so full of energy, strength and ideas. Sailing is like a constantly refreshing declaration of love for life."

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Olympic sailing: The bronze party marathon has begun

Tatjana Pokorny

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