'She calms me down': Meet the Greek 420 'soulmates'

Faviou and Papanikita are sampling their first taste of this event and bidding to ensure the female 420 gold stays in Greek hands. Danai Giannouli and Iakovina Kerkezou were dominant winners in the class in Lake Garda last year, scoring just 14 points and recording four wins in nine races.

The formbook suggests Faviou and Papanikita are in with a good chance of contending for a medal. They took silver at the 420 World Championships earlier this year, behind Spain’s Neus Fernandez Darder and Martina Gomila Darder, and finished fifth at the European Championships.

“This year has been quite successful for us,” Faviou said. “We really enjoyed the World Championships, the Europeans did not give the results we wanted but we will do our best in these races.

“This is my fourth year in the 420, and with Amalia, this is our second year together.

“From the beginning, we were like soulmates. We have managed to do incredible things.

“I am pretty nervous and anxious normally, but Amalia calms me down. With her, I feel more relaxed and I know everything is going to be OK.”

Papanikita is similarly content with how their partnership is developing and the way they complement each other both on and off the water.

“We are different in some ways but we get on very well,” she said.

“When I go in the boat with another person, I cannot communicate, I cannot do anything. Only with Georgia I can do well in a boat.”

Both sailors started in the Optimist, while Papanikita spent four years in the ILCA class before forming her 420 partnership with Faviou.

“I started sailing when I was seven years old,” Papanikita said.

“My father was a sailor when he was young, my sister and my brother also, I was jealous so I joined them.

“They are four years and eight years older, and my brother still sails. I told him I want his trophies and he said ‘you will get your own’!”

A combination of Greek music and 1980s rock provides the backdrop to Papanikita’s preparations for big races while Faviou opts for a more horizontal approach.

“I sleep!” she said. “Sleep is everything to me.

“I also like to speak to people to forget about everything, talk about things other than sailing.

“I am currently studying psychology, it is beautiful. It is really interesting, learning about our everyday emotions and life.

“It will also help with my sailing because I am the most anxious person on earth, so this will help me learn how to deal with it.”

Both sailors cite the Olympics as their ultimate ambition and they are a key part of an exciting time for Greek 420 sailing – their silver at the World Championships this year helped Greece finish as the most successful nation.

But their more immediate focus is on tackling the conditions in the Algarve in the coming days.

“We are very excited,” Papanikita said. “It is going to be a tough race but we will try to do our best to try and take a medal.”