Event: Men’s 49er sailing.
Who are they? Seaton and McGovern are two of the five Irish sailors heading to Rio. 28 and 31 respectively, the pair are vastly experienced and competed together in London four years ago.
Where are they from? Both are from Belfast, and members of Ballyholme Yacht club.
Olympic CV: The pair finished 14th in 2012, a result they were disappointed with.
Road to Rio: It has been a long wait for Seaton and McGovern after they secured qualification for Rio way back in September 2014 at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Spain.
When do they start? They take to the water on Friday 12 August.
Where can I follow them? They have a team Facebook page, which is regularly updated with pictures from behind the scenes.
https://www.facebook.com/TeamSeatonMcGovern/videos/vb.155527177830315/1034026369980387/?type=2&theater
What they say? “In the last Olympics, we finished 14th and we felt we could have done a lot better. It really comes down to not just our performance but other people’s.
“[Rio's] a fantastic venue. It’s a tricky venue with different types of wind, different tides. It can be quite complex. But it’s still the same race format. We’re still racing against the same guys that we’ve raced against in the world cup. It’s not different in that way.” (The42, July 2016)
Medal chances? The 49er class is an extremely competitive race but the Irish team go to Rio on the back of winning in Mallorca in April. They secured gold at the Pricess Sofia regatta after topping the leaderboard in a 70-plus fleet, which included many of their rivals for Rio.
With that in mind, and the confident a win of that stature brings, it’s a three out of five on The42‘s scientifically-developed, patented Jerry Kiernan scale…
And here’s something you probably didn’t know: They joined forces in 2009 with the aim of competing at the Olympics and now they’re days out from a second Games together.
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