Tita Banti interview: nothing is free - PART II -

The second part of the ‘golden’ interview with Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti after their Olympic victory. Discover the secrets to their success, their most memorable moments and the values they learned at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where the golden Nacra 17 duo and SLAM Ambassadors won their second gold

Part II

What message do you have for young sailors looking up to you?

Caterina Banti

Enjoy the journey, respect the values of this sport, respect others and fair play. Don’t think about the results, just enjoy what you do with passion and always try to do your best. Hard work is key. Remember: nobody will give you anything for free, you have to work hard for what you want to achieve.

Ruggero Tita
I would just say that no success comes without pain and that there’s a lot of work and time put into sailing and a lot of work ashore. What we do is go to a competition and try to do our best but what really counts is the work behind the scenes. That work is really important.

What was going through your mind when you saw the Argentinians turn around at the start?

Caterina Banti

Actually, I was just worried about who was out at that start. We were quite sure about our start, that we were in the clear, but when I saw them going to the British team and pointing at them, it was really sad to see, because they had been our training partners for something like five years. To lose a medal that way is so sad, they didn’t deserve it. They are great athletes, sailors and people.

Ruggero Tita

We knew the Argentinians were fighting to win a medal and to be honest this was nothing new but we had to keep an eye on them. So this made our lives much easier. We saw them heading back to the line, took control of the situation and were still able to take second place in the medal race. It was quite an easy task from outside but from the inside it was much more tough.

Which gold was the hardest to win of the two Olympics and why?

Caterina Banti

The hardest to win I think was in Paris, something truly difficult to repeat. It had been a really hard three years, managing a way to deal with Luna Rossa as well, outside Nacra. Planning and scheduling was tough and for me the physical preparation was not easy. A lot of injuries over three years were hard to deal with, but in the end we still managed to get to the Olympic games and execute the best physical, technical, mental and tactical performance ever.

Ruggero Tita

We were coming from another gold medal and, to be honest, this medal was an even greater challenge. We worked hard and what I think we did well was to adapt to the many changes. The boat had changed, the technique had changed between the Games in Tokyo and those in Paris. As human beings I feel we’ve changed a lot and what we have done right is to keep developing and keep pushing, never fixating on one means, just because it helped us win in the past. We had to change ourselves to adapt our technique and that is what made a difference.

What sporting and human values do you take away from this edition of the Olympics?

Caterina Banti

I think respect for others, inclusivity, solidarity, inclusion, equality, these are really important, and to just try and do your best. If there is someone better than you, there is nothing you can do about it, so just respect others. Friendship is just as important.

Ruggero Tita

Definitely the relationship between me and Caterina. We have changed a great deal over this period together. We’ve seen the best and worst sides of each other. I think we work together extremely well. We were able to give our team our best qualities and merge them together to achieve the best results.