The Argentine Olympic team won its second Paris 2024 medal after the duo of Eugenia Bosco and Mateo Majdalani won silver in mixed multihull sailing.
“We were dreaming of this, we worked our fingers to the bone. I’m beside myself,” said Majdalani.
Medals in this competition were awarded based on total point tally. The Argentine pair — Majdalani at the helm, Bosco as crew — arrived at the final race of the event in good position, having finished second in the overall results table, with 41 points. They were behind leaders Italy with 27 points, and held a good lead over Great Britain and New Zealand, tied for third with 47.
The British were disqualified on the start for launching ahead of the starting line, assuring Argentina the bronze medal. In order to win silver, all Bosco and Majdalani needed to do was finish no worse than two places behind New Zealand.
They finished seventh, ahead of the New Zealanders, for a final result of 51 points. Italy comfortably secured gold with 31.
“It’s a dream come true,” helmsman Majdalani told sports outlet TyC after the race. “I’m happy with the result and happy that it’s all over, because I was barely holding myself together.”
The 30 year old helmsman spoke about his relationship with Santiago Lange, the three-time Olympic medallist who won gold in the same event at Rio 2016 alongside Cecilia Carranza, and used to be coached by him.
“I started working with [Lange] when I was very young. At the beginning I was more of an assistant than a coach, because the difference in knowledge between us was huge”, Majdalani explained. “I learned a lot working with him those years. Ever since I started sailing I look up to him. He’s taught and inspired me.”
Bosco echoed his coequiper’s sentiment, saying that she was “incredibly happy” with the results. “We’ve worked a lot to be here.”
This is Argentina’s second medal in the games, after José “Maligno” Torres won gold in the BMX Freestyle tournament. It currently sits 38th in the Medal Table, alongside Chile, Ecuador and others. The Argentine Olympic team still can add a few medals to its tally, as the Leonas go up against Belgium for the bronze on Friday. Franco Serrano will compete in the men’s modern pentathlon semifinals on the same day, while Brenda Rojas and Agustín Vernice are set to feature in the kayak women’s 500m and men’s 1000m semifinals respectively on Saturday.