T&T's Olympic sailor Andrew Lewis created history yesterday by winning a bronze medal while competing in the Hempel World Cup Series in Genoa, Italy.
This placing is Lewis’ highest ever in a World Sailing event and is also the first time a T&T sailor has won a medal at a competition of this nature. Some 700 competitors from 60 nations are currently racing across eight Olympic events.
Lewis, naturally was ecstatic with his performance, saying: You had sailors like Tonci Stipanovic of Croatia and Pavlos Kontides of Cyrpus who are World Champions and Olympic medallists. The level of sailing was very high as the best in the world came out here to compete. This is a surreal moment for me to have competed amongst these sailors and to have ended up on the podium. It is a dream come true."
Lewis will rest for a few days and then enter a training camp in Tenerife with his coach Javier Hernandez in preparation for the Laser Senior European Championships and Trophy which will be held in Porto, Portugal from May 18-25.
"It is humbling to see the fruits of your hard work in the form of performances like this. There is no rest as we need to continue to build on this and improve with the goal of Olympic qualification being the ultimate focus," said Lewis on his progress.
"Thank you to my sponsors Atlantic, Blue Waters, Ford Motors, Republic Bank and Tatil whose support has been key to me being able to attend these competitions. I am also grateful to the government of T&T through The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, the Sports Company of T&T (SPORTT) and the Sport and Culture Fund for the support they have given and continue to give.
"Finally to the people of T&T who continue to send love and support to me; this really keeps me going and motivates me to continue to strive for greatness."