Champ seeks help

to go for The Gold

FIJI may lose its chance to win a first Olympic gold medal through World Champion Windsurfer, Tony Philps, unless it puts its hand in its pocket to keep the dream afloat.

Young Tony sent a wave of euphoria through Fiji when he was christened the World Champion at the Windsurfing World Titles in Adelaide, Australia, in January. Before he can make a serious bid for Olympic gold, however, he must raise funds to train against world com petitors on a different kind of board.

Tony and his cohort, Steve Turner of Surf Fiji, are spreading the word to raise funds urgently for Tony’s pre-Olympic leadup, which starts next month. Doctor Robyn Mitchell is also creating waves overseas to try to secure a major sponsor.

In all, Tony needs to raise $40,000 to cover the rigorous April 13 to August 15 schedule in Europe, as a lead up to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

According to Steve Turner, “Fiji has never had a gold medal and Tony’s a good chance to get that. He has shown his ability to win but, unless he’s able to go on the European circuit and be fully sponsored with all the right equipment, it’ll be very hard for him to compete with any hope of winning a place.”

Tony won the world championship on a one-design board but, he explains, the Olympics require him to train on a different board.

“It’s like motorbike racing you don’t just hop from a 250 to a 500 cc motorbike and expect to be a Wayne Gardner. You have to train on the new bike first.

“The board I’m racing is a Lechner divll with a displacement or V-shaped hull flat bottomed boards are a lot easier. If you sail a board with a displacement hull it’s much harder but, once I’ve got it mastered and that

should only take a couple of weeks it’s boat speed ... and that wins races.

“So basically I’m not competing so much in these titles as training for the Olympics on a new kind of board the Olympic board. The first few months I might even get

my butt kicked, but I’ll be learning as much as I can in preparation for the big event in Barcelona.”

Tony was placed 25th in a field of 46 sailors at his first Olympic Competition in 1988, without the same backing and sponsorship giving to specialists from France, USA, Holland, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

“This time I want to go for the gold,” he said. □

Tony Philps: sights on the Olympics

Left: Jason Wombey doing an aerial on the Sigatoka River Mouth, Fiji. Below: “Coming off the ton.”