OLYMPIC sailor Nick Rogers, who won silver medals in Athens and Beijing, says Jersey is fully capable of producing talented sailors who could compete at future Games.
Rogers, who now hopes to take gold at London 2012, was speaking about his medal successes at the St Helier Yacht Club dinner last weekend and to pupils at St George’s School on Monday. The world and European multi-medallist has a brother, Ben, who has lived in Jersey with his family for eight years and works as a GP.
Nick Rogers, who sails with team-mate Joe Glanfield, said: ‘Jersey has excellent sailing facilities. Ben has a boat here and I come to the Island quite often, so I sometimes go out with him. I’ve also been here a couple of times to coach some of the kids. Certainly anyone from Jersey could go on and do what I have done. Jersey has a great lifestyle, it’s a fantastic setting, with great facilities – everything is here for you. There is absolutely no reason why someone can’t go on and achieve what I have.’
Rogers and Glanfield are aiming to take more medals at World and European level before they launch their campaign to win that dream gold medal at the Olympic Games in London. Rogers said: ‘Now that everything has settled down after Beijing, we are starting to put our campaign together to take gold in 2012. The British fans are second to none, so this is going to be the big one for us. I live near Weymouth so there would be no need for us to train in Jersey, but I will certainly be back here for a break as much as I can in the build-up.’
• Picture: Nick Rogers with his wife Fanny and his Beijing medals
