Olympic sailing: The comeback of the summer: Burling and Tuke back in the 49er!

It's the comeback of the summer: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke want to give it another go in the Olympic 49er. The two New Zealand sailing stars won the gold medal in the 49er in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and dominated the America's Cup a year later with Emirates Team New Zealand - and then went on to attack in the Volvo Ocean Race. But in the round-the-world ocean marathon, both of them - Burling sailed to third place with Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel, Tuke to second place with the Spanish Team Mapfre - were denied the potential "Triple Crown" because Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team won the race in the end.

Today, the two exceptional sailors have announced another Olympic campaign, once again in parallel with the upcoming America's Cup defence in 2021 in Auckland. The sailing world is now eagerly awaiting to see whether and how quickly these two 'flying' Kiwis can restore their incredible 49er class dominance of 2012 to 2016. Between the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, Burling and Tuke won every major regatta and four consecutive world championships before playing a key role in the New Zealanders' victory in the 35th America's Cup off Bermuda as helmsmen and trimmers, but also as technically gifted driving forces behind the scenes, sweeping Larry Ellison's defending champions from Oracle Team USA off the course.

The two sailing friends had never ruled out a comeback in the 49er. However, they first wanted to wait and see how things would go for them in the Volvo Ocean Race and whether a parallel commitment in Olympic sailing and the America's Cup would be possible again. Now the repeated double commitment is a done deal and has been publicly announced, the New Zealand Sailing Association Yachting New Zealand announced today. As part of their Olympic campaign, the high-flyers are once again relying on their proven team of Hamish Wilcox and David Slyfield. "We didn't take this decision lightly," said Blair Tuke, "It's the ultimate honour to represent your country at the Olympics and we are both incredibly focused on defending the Cup for New Zealand. We wanted to make sure we gave both campaigns everything we had." Burling added: "We know that the combination of the Olympics and America's Cup complements each other well. It creates a high-performance environment for us in all areas of sailing that challenges us and allows us to perform at the highest level."

Burling and Tuke have been given the green light for their decision by both the New Zealand Sailing Association and Emirates Team New Zealand. How could it be otherwise when you can have the best for both?