News & Features | ISAF | World Sailing | Official Site : KAKLAMANAKIS To Coach In Mondello

News

11 May 2005, 04:13 pm

KAKLAMANAKIS To Coach In Mondello

Mistral World Championships 2005

Mondello, Sicily, Italy

The Olympic torch bearer in Athens, Greece's two time Olympic medallist, Nikolaos KAKLAMANAKIS, has arrived in Mondello, Italy for the Mistral World Championship held from 13-20 May. This time KAKLAMANAKIS will be back in Mondello not to race, as he has done for the past few years, but as a coach.

This will be a new experience for the Greek champion, who long before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens had decided to retire from his racing career and dedicate his time to younger athletes.

KAKLAMANAKIS was born on the 19 September 1968. He decided at an early age to go out on a windsurf, racing for the Naval club in Andros. Almost straight away he rose to the top of his field. 1992 was his first time in participating at an Olympic Games and he finished in ninth place. Two years later in 1994, he claimed the European Championship title. 1995 saw him finish second at the Mistral World Championship, an event he would go on to win twice in succession in 2000 and 2001.

It was 1996 that saw KAKLAMANAKIS' greatest triumph, as he took the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta. Four years later he finished sixth in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games before a thrilling windsurfing competition in 2004 saw him claim the Olympic silver medal in his home country.

Now KAKLAMANAKIS has decided to turn a page in his windsurfing career and to offer his experience to younger athletes, choosing the Mistral World Championship in Mondello as his starting place.

Event Media (As Amended By ISAF). Image, KAKLAMANAKIS celebrates his silver medal in Athens:© MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images