Italy’s Massimo Dighe is in familiar surroundings, he’s among friends and can see the usual hustle and bustle of 2.4s, SKUD18’s and Sonar’s being craned into a marina.

He attends the team leader meetings, speaks to friends about the weather conditions for the day and turns up to equipment inspection.

All very usual for Dighe, who went through the process four years ago at London 2012 as a Paralympic athlete and member of the Italian Sonar team.

Only this time, at Rio 2016, Dighe is sat on the other side of the fence, working as Para World Sailing Manager for World Sailing, the governing body of the sport.

Having retired from competitive Paralympic sailing in 2013, Dighe has made the transition from successful sailor to a sporting administrator. Embedded within World Sailing, Dighe ensures the needs and requirements of the 80 Paralympic sailors, coaches, officials and volunteers are met in Rio de Janeiro.

Over the coming days, Dighe will continue to oversee key areas of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition but after sailing was removed from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic program, Dighe’s plans extend well beyond Rio.

“The plan is to get sailing back into the program of events for the 2024 Paralympic Games,” explained Dighe. “It’s important for us that nations continue supporting the sailors as we need a number of nations with sailors regularly participating in the sport. We need to make a great proposal to the International Paralympic Committee and we need to strengthen our sport.”

Dighe became involved in sports administration during his time sailing the Sonar competitively. He acted as team leader for his three-man team and played a key role in the Italian Sailing Federation. Dighe was responsible for promoting Paralympic sailing within Italy and the rewards are evident with three competitive Italian teams at Rio 2016.

From there, Dighe became a member of the Para World Sailing Committee in 2015 and one-year later, after stepping down from the Committee, was offered the role of Para World Sailing Manager.

Dighe is responsible for managing and building key relationships within World Sailing and the International Paralympic Committee, integrating Para World Sailing into the Sailing World Cup and supporting the development of the sport from development programs and race officials.

Just two months into the role, Dighe has a clear vision, “The plan is to increase the development through World Sailing Paralympic Develop Program, much like the Youth Worlds Emerging Nations Program.

He continued, “One of the other plans is to revise the equipment because we need equipment that is cheaper, has less logistical problems and can expand sailing’s reach. We are working with the sailors to increase participation, lower the age of participation and reach more nations. We have continents such as Africa and South America with low participation so we need to create programs like the PDP to achieve our targets.”

Sailing is a unique Paralympic sport. Severely disabled athletes compete on a level playing with those more able-bodied. The boats are measured, weighed and inspected to so that they stay within a defined set of rules, ensuring fairness and equality, and each boat is adapted to suit each type of disability.

Dighe was born with cerebal palsy and took to sailing in 2006, immediately falling in love with the sport. To adapt the Sonar to suit his requirements, Dighe added a roll bar but when he’s sailing, disabilities are put aside.

“When you sail you are not a disabled sailor. You are a sailor. Sailing has helped a lot of people and it has helped me to. It gives you independence,” he expressed with a smile on his face

“Sailing is very inclusive sport. A lot of our sailors race against able bodied sailors so for me it’s really important to help young guys, nations and anyone who wants to join the sport. Sailing helped me and a lot of other sailors here [Rio 2016] and we have a responsibility to help young people and emerging nations to give possibilities to young guys and girls to try sailing.”

Dighe started to campaign for Rio 2016 in the SKUD18, sailing at the 2013 European Championships, but found in his own words that he could, “help, unify and work in synergy with the sailors and administrators.”

Nonetheless, once a sailor, always a sailor as he takes a glimpse of the water, remiscining. He concluded, “Sometimes I’m sad because this is the first time I am on the other side of the wall. I see my friends going out sailing but it’s normal, it’s life.

“Now I think I can help more being on this side and I’m happy to be here.”

By Daniel Smith – World Sailing

Throughout the day World Sailing will be updating you via our Live Blog, through the 2D and 3D tracking as well as via our social media channels. Find out how to follow below.

RIO 2016 PARALYMPIC SAILING COMPETITION

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition will take place at the Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and will feature 80 athletes from 23 nations competing across three events. Racing is scheduled to take place from 12-17 September 2016 and the competition format for all events is fleet racing.

RESULTS / ENTRIES
A full list of sailors racing at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games is available to view here – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/qualification/sailors.php.
Results will be available on World Sailing’s Paralympic Website when racing starts on Monday 12 September – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/results/index.php

LIVE TRACKING
The racing will be available to watch in 2D and 3D via the live tracking. Live tracking will be available when racing commences via – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/multimedia/live-tracking.php#.V9G2ulfwykg

COMPETITION STATUS
The Competition Status Screen feeds in straight from the Race Committee boats with the teams inputting data such as race times, course type, the status of each race and the plan moving forward. The competition status screen will be available when racing commences via – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/multimedia/live-tracking.php#.V9G2ulfwykg

LIVE BLOGGING
The World Sailing media team will be following the racing LIVE on World Sailing’s Paralympic Blog throughout Rio 2016. Follow LIVE here – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/multimedia/live-blog.php#.V9G2j1fwykg

PRESS RELEASES
World Sailing will be releasing international press releases after racing throughout the duration of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. All the latest news and reports will be available to read here – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/news/index.php

TELEVISION
To find out who your Paralympic broadcaster is, click here – https://www.paralympic.org/watch-rio-2016

For a simple guide to sailing the IPC have released a short ‘A to Z’ video which you can find here – https://www.facebook.com/paralympics/videos/10154068921356281/

SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the event on World Sailing’s social networks:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ISAFWorldSailing
Instagram – https://instagram.com/isafworldsailing/
Twitter – @worldsailing
Snapchat – Follow our Story on Snapchat, search for worldsailing

USEFUL LINKS
World Sailing Paralympic Website – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/home.php
Competition Schedule – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/about/schedule.php
Latest Paralympic Sailing news – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/news/index.php
Online Notice Board – http://www.sailing.org/paralympics/rio2016/onb.php

Meet the sailors representing their nation in the One Person Keelboat (2.4 Norlin OD) at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

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