Double Olympic medallist Santi Lange joins Telefonica's VOR team

[Source: Equipo Telefonica] The Telefónica team has officially signed up Santiago Lange for the Volvo Ocean Race today. Born in San Isidro (Buenos Aires), the 46 year-old Argentinean has joined the Spanish team that has two boats on the starting line for the first time ever; “Telefónica Blue” and “Telefónica Black”. Lange will be sailing onboard the latter, where he will be carrying out the role of Watch Captain.

This won’t be the first time Santiago crosses the starting line in this round-the-world race, as he explains: “I’ve completed the Southampton to Cape Town leg. I was asked to continue, but at the time I had other commitments”. That was back in the 2001-2002 edition with Team SEB. Finally, he’s decided to dive in 100% to take part in the tenth edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

This sailor’s CV boasts a long list of sailing exploits, including five Olympic Games. The first was in Seoul in 1988 in the Soling Class, and then came Atlanta 1996 in the Laser Class; Sydney 2000 in Tornado; Athens 2004, where he gained his first bronze medal in the Tornado Class; and the last was in Peking this year where he also brought home a bronze medal in the Tornado Class. Another of the great nautical competitions also features on Santiago Lange’s CV: The America’s Cup. In the last edition of the competition, held in Valencia, Santiago was part of the afterguard on the Swedish challenge “Victory Challenge”.

With just a month to go until the start of the Volvo Ocean Race in Alicante, and having just recently finished the tough training required for an Olympic campaign, Lange knows that his bid to get race-ready will require lots of hard work, but he adds that: “I’m lucky in that I’ve sailed with most of the crew before, and that really helps”.

Completing the “Telefónica Black” crewlists are: patrón - Fernando Echávarri; Navigator – Roger Nilson; Watch Captain - Gonzalo Araujo; Pitmen - David Vera and Antonio Cuervas-Mons; Trimmers/ Drivers - Javier de la Plaza and Maciel Cichetti and Bowmen - Jaime Arbones and Michael Pammenter.

Lange is confident that his participation in the Race with the Telefónica team, as well as that of fellow Argentinean Maciel Cicchetti, will help to make sailing more popular in is native country: “I’m confident that this regatta is a great tool in that respect. It’s not just about sailing, but about getting to know our planet, living together as a crew and about adventure”.

Lange is prepared to give it his all to get the best result, and is setting out to do the very best job he can: There’s no doubt in his mind “of course, my dream is to win”.

With this last announcement, and just the Media Crew posts to be decided, this is how the Telefónica crews stand:

Telefónica Black:
Fernando Echávarri
Roger Nilson
Santiago Lange
Gonzalo Araujo
Maciel Cicchetti
Javier de la Plaza
David Vera
Antonio Cuervas-Mons
Jaime Arbones
Michael Pammenter

Telefónica Blue:
Bouwe Bekking
Íker Martínez
Simon Fisher
Jonathan Swain
Laurent Pages
Jordi Calafat
Xabi Fernández
Pablo Arrarte
Pepe Ribes
Daryl Wislang