Australia has always found success in the sport of sailing at the Olympic Games.
A sport that was first introduced way back in 1900, sailing has slowly become a bigger and bigger part of the Olympic program, having either ten or eleven events in every Games dating back to 1992 in Spain.
Of the 195 events in sailing history, Australia have taken out 13 gold medals, eight silver medals and eight bronze for a total of 29. The only nations who have had a better success rate in the Games for sailing are Denmark, France, Norway, the United States of America and Great Britain, who lead the field with 31 gold, 21 silver and 12 bronze.
In recent years though, the men's laser event has been dominated by Australia.
In fact, heading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the last time Australia didn't take out gold in the event was during 2008 at Beijing.
2012 saw Tom Slingsby overcome the field to take out a gold medal with an almost perfect run through the competition, including four race wins from the ten available, before the 2016 event in Rio de Janeiro saw Tom Burton take gold, even in less dominant fashion without a race win to his name, but a top ten finish in all but two events, including a sixth-place effort in the last race of the event.
That left Matthew Wearn as the contender from Australia for the 2021 version in Tokyo, and after a slow start, he was almost faultless throughout races three to ten to come from the clouds and secure gold, despite the fact second and third place from 2016, being Croatia's Tonci Stipanovic and New Zealand's Sam Meech were in the field and has more convincing starts.
Wearn, who finished 17th and 28th in the first two races in a field of 35, found his form thereafter, finishing second in three of the next four races, and then claiming back-to-back victories in races seven and eight.
A small drop off towards the end of the event threatened his position, but ultimately, he was too far ahead without a consistent finish from any of his rivals, and he claimed a comfortable victory with a fourth-placed finish in the medal deciding race.
Stipanovic would once again finish in second spot, while Norway's Hermann Tomasgaard swept through for third spot.
For the first time in a number of Olympics, Australia will now have the same sailor backing up in the men's Laser event, with Wearn in excellent form since those last Games, taking out the 2023 World Championships in the what is now called ILCA 7 class in The Hague, before doing the same in Adelaide this year.
Stipanovic, the two-time silver medalist, is back for more too in the Dinghy (yes, that means Laser and ILCA 7 too) event in Paris, and could again serve as Wearn's biggest challenger as the field bid to stop the Aussie from back-to-back golds.
The event kicks off on Day 7 of the games, Friday August 2.
In the 20 days leading up to the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony on the River Seine in Paris, All Sport will be looking back at the biggest Australian moments from the last Olympic Games, held under COVID conditions in Tokyo. From gold medals to heartbreaking moments, it's sure to play out again during 2024.
