Sailing Glory

Nautilus Marine caught up with Perth sailor Matt Wearn fresh from winning his second Olympic gold medal in the laser class at the Paris Olympics.

Interview by Sarah Ranawake

Photo by World Sailing / Jean-Louis Carli

Congratulations, you’re the first man to win back-to-back Olympic gold in the Laser class. Has it sunk in yet? It feels incredible to be the first person to do this in the ILCA. So many great sailors have tried but not been successful so it feels extra special to have the honour of being the first. I don’t think it has properly sunk in yet. I have moments where it hits me but I don’t think the enormity of the achievement has fully sunk in.

Have you had any downtime since the Games ended? I have been in Perth since returning from the Games which has been great. To be back in Australia and able to start the process of winding down off the high that comes with the success has been really good. It has been amazing to show off the medal and share the excitement with everyone in Perth. Royal Perth Yacht Club put on an amazing welcome home event which was the perfect way to hopefully inspire the next generation as well. It has been a little busy still with welcome home events and plenty of media so I am looking forward to getting away for a holiday very soon.

The last time you spoke to Nautilus Marine Magazine was three years ago, fresh from your first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. For readers who haven’t been following your sailing career since, can you fill us in on some of the highs and lows of the last three years? The last three years have been full of ups and downs. Unfortunately, in 2022 I caught Covid which turned into Long Covid and Chronic Fatigue. This wrote off my whole season and it took until early 2023 to get back to a competitive level. Later that year I won the Olympic Test Event in Marseille and quickly followed it up with my first World Championship. In January 2024 I successfully defended my World Championship title. It’s safe to say it was a busy three years between Olympics.

© Sailing Energy

Can you tell us more about how your health challenges impacted you on both a personal level and in terms of your sailing? Covid unfortunately hit me quite hard and turned into a Chronic Fatigue-like state. Due to this I was stuck inside and in bed for months due to my vertigo symptoms. Apart from the physical effect of this it also had an effect on my mental health. I was really struggling on a daily basis to do the most simple tasks and as someone that loves being outdoors this was hard to deal with. Also after months of no improvement in my health the self-doubt was well and truly there as far as wondering if I would ever get to the level I was at before Covid.

At what point did you make the decision to defend your Olympic title and how did you make that journey back to peak performance? I lost a lot of time in what was already a short period between Games. I was under the pump to get healthy which certainly didn’t help the recovery process. I enlisted the help of Julia Casadio who at the time was working with another athlete with very similar symptoms to me and had done plenty of research into Long Covid. Julia has a physiologist background and after we successfully got me back to full health, we worked closely to get me as close to peak fitness as we could by the Olympics. I was always going to do everything I could to defend my gold medal but it wasn’t until mid-to-late 2023 that I realised and understood that it was possible again.

How different was it coming into this Olympics from the position of defending your Olympic title? Did it add extra pressure? It definitely added more pressure. The expectation and pressure to perform from the Australian Sailing Team and entire sailing community was certainly higher. Although this was the case, it’s situation normal for me at this point and I love it. It means I am performing to a level that I want to be at. It’s a privilege to be the one to beat and doesn’t change the job I need to do on the water.

Talk to us about your overall experience at the Olympics. How different was it from the Tokyo experience which was still in the midst of Covid-related restrictions? The biggest difference was obviously the amount of people around. With 12,000 people visiting the sailing daily it made for a great atmosphere when you were sailing in and out for the day. The fact that family could be there to share the experience made it a lot more special at the end to share the success together.

© Sailing Energy

What was that final day of sailing like, knowing you were within reach of a second gold medal? It was obviously a great position to be in with the 14-point gap and only one boat to watch on the water so I took confidence in the fact that if I executed the plan well that everything would be fine. The waiting around not knowing when and if we would get to race was tough at times but we have plenty of practice dealing with that.

Photo by World Sailing / Jean-Louis Carli

Related to that point, how much would you say high performance in sailing is physical vs mental? The mental side is just as important to train for as the physical. There is no point being the fittest on the water if you can’t handle the mental aspect of the sport. Having processes in place for each part of the day is really important. This way when the time comes that you are under pressure you can rely on the process to pull you through. What was it like being on the medal podium and receiving that second gold medal? The moment that you are standing behind the podium waiting to receive the medal is the first time you get to be alone and think for a second. The realisation of what I had achieved started to hit and it was quite emotional but mainly a big release of the pressure of the last three years. It feels like you can finally take a deep breath and feel the weight lift off your shoulders. As special as it was to win the first gold medal, this one has a slightly different feel to it. It probably means a little more to me in different ways.

Your wife Emma Plasschaert, who represented Belgium in sailing at the Olympics, was there alongside you. What was it like to share your win with her? It was amazing to have Emma at both of the Games and to share the success with her. To campaign together trying to achieve the same goals at times makes things so much easier. We both understand and know what each other is going through and on those tough training days we can give one another the motivation to push through. We both love the sport of sailing and feel so privileged that we get to travel the world together and represent our countries.

Your parents were in Marseilles supporting you at this Olympics as well, what was it like to have them there? Did you also feel the wider support from the Australian public back home? My parents made the trip to Marseille which was incredible. They have obviously been there for my entire journey and have invested so much to allow me to pursue this as a career. To be able share the moment of winning a second gold medal with them was very special. My brother and sister both have young families so unfortunately couldn’t make the trip but they were there to surprise me when I got off the charter flight in Sydney so that was a really special moment too. The support from the wider sailing community back home was definitely felt in Marseille by all the sailors. Knowing that everyone was wishing us good luck and watching us race no matter what the time, was a great feeling.

© Sailing Energy

Your win marked Australia’s fourth straight Olympic title in the Laser class. Why do you think Australia is so strong in this Olympic class and do you see this continuing into the future with the upcoming generation of sailors? We have been very fortunate to have some incredible talent in the class for decades now and having that under the guidance of some incredible coaches is why we are dominating as a country in this class. Everyone is obviously there for themselves in some sense but especially once the selections for the Games are done we all take pride in doing whatever we can to help the one that is going to be representing the country at the Games.

You’ve achieved the pinnacle of Olympic sailing – twice! So, have you had a chance yet to consider ‘what’s next’ for you within sailing? I am currently looking at furthering my professional sailing career and taking that next step in the coming months. It is the natural progression from Olympic sailing and I will be working hard to try and make a name for myself in that very competitive side of sailing. As for another Olympic campaign it is not off the table. I will let this sink in for a little while and see where life takes me before making that decision.

Lastly, can you share some life lessons sailing has taught you? Sailing has taught me to be diligent, to never give up on anything in life and to never dwell on the past. Things aren’t always going to go your way and it’s how you deal with that and move forward. Learning as a human and putting that into practice the next time anything comes your way whether good or bad.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAILING ENERGY AND WORLD SAILING.

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