Brazil’s Torben Grael has been presented with the World Sailing Hall of Fame trophy at Sailing World Cup Miami presented by Sunbrella.
Following his induction at the 2015 Annual Conference in Sanya, China, World Sailing Vice President Gary Jobson presented Grael with the Hall of Fame trophy as well as a unique blue World Sailing logo pennant that only inductees receive.
Grael is one of Brazil’s greatest sailing exports. He is one of only three individuals to have won five Olympic medals in sailing, including two Bronze medals, a Silver medal and two Gold medals across two classes (Soling and Star).
Further to this impressive record, Grael has also excelled in other areas of sailing. He has won both the Volvo Ocean Race (as skipper of ‘Ericsson 4’) and the Louis Vuitton Cup (as tactician on ‘Luna Rossa’). He has also won numerous World Championships in the Star class and 12 Meter class.
In recognition of his achievements, Grael was awarded the Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award in 2009.
Created in 2007 the World Sailing Hall of Fame has inducted sailors on two occasions.
Olin Stephens, Dame Ellen Macarthur, Paul Elvström, Barbara Kendall, Eric Tabarly and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston were inducted in 2007.
Dennis Connor, Alessandra Sensini, Harold Vanderbilt (1884 – 1970), Sir Peter Blake (1948 – 2001), Buddy Melges, Valentin Mankin (1938 – 2014 and Torben Grael were the most recent sailors inducted at the 2015 Annual Conference in Sanya, China.
Sailors will be inducted into the Hall of Fame every third year of the Executive Committee’s tenure. The next induction will be in 2019.
Daniel Smith
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