Torben Grael

Torben Schmidt Grael (born 22 July 1960) is one of the most well known Brazilian sailors, renowned in international competitions. A descendant of Danes, he was taken sailing by his grandfather at the age of five years on the sailboat Aileen, of the 6 Metre class, which was the boat used by the silver medal-winning 1912 Summer Olympics Danish sailing team. Once he moved to Niterói, he started sailing with his brother, Lars Grael, also an Olympic medal winner, on the Bay of Guanabara. Another brother, Axel Grael, is the current mayor of Niterói. He is father of Olympic champion Martine Grael and sailor Marco Grael.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Schmidt and the second or paternal family name is Grael.

Torben Grael

Grael in 2003
Personal information
Full name	Torben Schmidt Grael
Nickname	Turbine
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1960-07-22) 22 July 1960 (age 64) São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Sailing career
Class(es)	Soling, Star
Club	Rio Yacht Club
Medal record Sailing Representing  Brazil Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta Star class 2004 Athens Star class 1984 Los Angeles Soling class 1988 Seoul Star class 2000 Sydney Star class

Torben Grael, skipper of Ericsson 4 and overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2009

Record

Nicknamed Turbine for his fame in conducting sailboats, he collected five Olympic medals, four of them in the Star class.

He is the Brazilian with the highest number of Olympic medals, and holds the highest number of Olympic medals in sailing together with Ben Ainslie and Robert Scheidt with five, followed by Paul Elvstrøm with four. He also placed first place in many World, South American and Brazilian championships in several categories. His first-mate is usually Marcelo Ferreira.

Grael has also sailed in other international competitions including the 2005–06 Volvo Ocean Race as skipper of the Brasil 1 team, the first 100% Brazilian outfit to enter the competition, which finished third overall. He would win the next Ocean Race, but this time as the skipper of the Swedish team Ericsson 4 (he won the race with two legs to spare). In October 2008 the yacht Ericsson 4 officially travelled 596.6 nautical miles in 24 hours, establishing a 24-hour monohull record. Skipper Torben Grael and his crew made the record on the first leg of the 2008–2009 Volvo Ocean Race. They sailed Ericsson 4 hard as a strong cold front hit the fleet, bringing winds approaching 40 knots, and propelling the yacht at an average speed of 24.8 knots.

He has sailed in several America's Cup races, including the winning campaign in Louis Vuitton Cup in 2000 and the 2007 event as tactician aboard Luna Rossa Challenge^[1]

Results – Dinghy Sailing

International

Year	Event	Venue	Class	Result
1978	World Championships	San Diego, CA, U.S.	Snipe Jr.	1st
1980	Sailing Olympic Week	Cork, Ireland	Soling	1st
1981	North-American Championship	Sarnia, Ontario, Canada	Soling	1st
1983	IX Pan American Games	Caracas, Venezuela	Soling	1st
	World Championships	Porto, Portugal	Snipe	1st
1984	Sailing Olympic Week	Sanremo, Italy	Soling	1st
	Mediterranean Championship	Sanremo, Italy	Soling	1st
	XXIII Olympic Games	Los Angeles, U.S.	Soling	2nd
1985	World Championships	Sarnia, Ontario, Canada	Soling	2nd
1987	X Pan American Games	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	Soling	3rd
	World Championships	La Rochelle, France	Snipe	1st
1988	XXIV Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	Star	3rd
1989	European Championship	Travemünde, Lübeck, SH, Germany	Star	1st
	World Championships	Karatsu, Saga, Japan	Snipe	2nd
1990	World Championships	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.	Star	1st
	European Championship	Lake Balaton, Hungary	Star	1st
	Sailing Olympic Week	Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	Star	1st
1991	World Championships	Cannes, France	Star	2nd
	World Championships	Newport, Wales, United Kingdom	One Ton	2nd
	World Championships	Porto Carras, Greece	3⁄4 Ton	3rd
	European Championship	Palermo, Italy	Star	1st
1996	XXVI Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	Star	1st
2000	XXVII Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	Star	3rd
2004	XXVIII Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	Star	1st

Sources:^[2][3][4]

References

1. "TORBEN GRAEL - Titles & Awards". Torben-Grael.com.
2. "Resultados". Torben-Grael.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 19 August 2006.
3. "Torben Grael". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Torben Grael". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Volvo Ocean Race at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 December 2009)
• Torben Grael at World Sailing
• Torben Grael at Olympics.com
• Torben Grael at Olympic.org (archived)
• Torben Grael at Olympedia
• Torben Grael at the Comitê Olímpico do Brasil (in Portuguese)

Olympic Games
Preceded by Mirella Arnhold	Flagbearer for  Brazil Athens 2004	Succeeded by Isabel Clark Ribeiro