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Olympian ‘Squirrel’ sails to another Olympic spot

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Asenathi Jim didn’t care that he couldn’t swim when he first climbed into a boat.

Today, the 26-year-old is a fully fledged South African Olympic sailor who qualified last weekend for his second Olympic Games on the trot.

“This is not just a huge achievement for us but for the country and the continent,” Jim told City Press this week after he and sailing mentor Roger Hudson booked their Olympic ticket at the 470 World Championships in Haifa, Israel, last Saturday.

The Royal Cape Yacht Club duo brought to three the number of South African sailors to have qualified – after Laser sailor Stefano Marcia booked a spot for the Rio de Janeiro showpiece in Brazil earlier this year.

Jim, who hails from Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape, said he ventured into the sport “because I ran out of friends”.

“I loved it from day one, when I was given the opportunity to compete on a boat at the age of 11,” he chuckled.

Jim credited Roger and his team-mates’ father, Dave Hudson, a 1992 Olympic sailor, and former Olympian sailor Ian Ainslie among the “experienced sailors around me” who nurtured and showed him the way around the sea in a boat.

“I met Roger when I was coming through the ranks at the Izivunguvungu Sailing School.”

The sailing development centre is based in the port town of Simon’s Town and provides activities, educational assistance and adventure opportunities to disadvantaged youth as part of a community-development programme.

It was established in 2001 by Ainslie and Matthew Mentz, a highly qualified ocean skipper and instructor.

“This sport offers an amazing experience but it needs determination and sacrifices to succeed because it can be harsh sometimes,” said Jim, a father to a two-year-old boy.

Squirell, as Jim is known to his peers, has travelled and sailed across the length and breath of the world’s oceans in a bid for Olympic qualification.

He said being based in Cape Town had helped a great deal, as he and Hudson were able to encounter all sorts of conditions because the Mother City was such a windy place.

Jim and Hudson said they had built a much more substantial campaign for Rio compared with their last-gasp qualification for the London Olympics in the 18 months they had been together at that time.

“Jim has a strong character and resilience to become one of the best sportsmen in the world,” said Hudson of his team-mate.

He added: “We have been together for five years as a team and have done nearly 100 Olympic events in the circuit. Our goal for Rio is to be in the final.”

The pair will be back on the boat for the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from Tuesday to next Sunday

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