Racing at the 2013 470 European Championships, Italy © Gianluca di Fazio

Racing at the 2013 470 Europeans, Italy © Gianluca di Fazio

Athlete Information

CATCHING UP WITH SOUTH AFRICA'S ASENATHI JIM AND ROGER HUDSON

06 Feb 2015

Jim (known affectionately as "Squirrel") and crew Hudson have been on a long journey to success. Their first goal was to qualify to the 2012 Olympics. They did that, qualifying from their result at the 2012 470 Worlds in Barcelona, Spain.

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Now they are well into their second Olympic campaign and eyeing up their journey to Rio 2016.

Back in 2012, going into the Olympic Games, the pair were ranked #48 in the world. Now they are the world #17 team. Most recently, at the end of January, they finished 8th at ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami.

As Hudson said, "26 of the world top 30 and 9 of the world top 10. This is exactly the kind of result that we’ve been aiming for and working towards. Our world ranking is up from 22 to 17, so we are delighted and feeling extremely motivated going forwards towards Rio 2016."

Their next major challenge is ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres in France in April, with 2 lead-in events prior to this at Trofeo Princess Sofia in Mallorca, Spain and the International 470 Spring Cup in Marseille, France. Otherwise they will be training hard at their base in Cape Town and are looking forward to welcoming the Swedish and Canadian teams who will join them in South Africa for an intensive training camp from the 17-28 February, including our young South African training partners.

Enjoy this recent video of their journey so far and future plans.

Then, why not jump back 4 years to this feature on Asenathi Jim in 2011.

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