A 15 year pathway

When Igor Marenic moved in with Sime Fantela's family as a young sailor, their eyes were set firmly on achieving an Olympic gold medal for their country. What formed was a friendship that morphed into brotherhood and a team dynamic that many can only dream of, ultimately laying their path to glory. Their bond, hunger and competitive spirit turned them into world beaters throughout the nomination period as they broke Mat Belcher and Will Ryan's consecutive run of world championship wins. Halting the Australians in their tracks Fantela and Marenic won gold at the 2016 World Championship, following up with further victories at Sailing World Cup Hyeres and Weymouth and Portland. At Rio 2016, the Croatians picked up where they'd left off from the Worlds and Sailing World Cup series, demonstrating consistency that not even the Australians could match. A points buffer meant all they had to do was keep the Australians and Greece's Pavlos Kagialis and Panagiotis Mantis at bay during the Medal Race and gold would be theirs. They did not fail to deliver and returned to Croatia with its first sailing gold medal to a heroic welcome. Follow World Sailing on: Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/ISAFWorldSailing Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/worldsailing Website - http://www.sailing.org