He wrestled with himself for a long time and put off the decision, but now it has been made: Robert Scheidt is bidding farewell to Olympic sailing as an active participant. The likeable Brazilian was one of the greats of his sport for a quarter of a century. Although he was denied a glittering end to his career in his last Olympic appearance in his home waters off Rio de Janeiro, finishing fourth in the Laser, the father of two sons had already won five Olympic medals by then and is still the only person to have beaten Sir Ben Ainslie (4 x gold, 1 x silver), the most successful Olympic sailor in the history of the sport, at the Olympic Games. He achieved this in 1996 off Savannah in a battle of lightning, thunder and rain.
"This decision to end my Olympic career was one of the hardest I have ever had to make. I have competed at the highest possible level in regattas for over 25 years. But now I no longer feel competitive enough. The time has come. I hope that I can continue to serve the sport and that Brazil will continue to have a lot of success in the future," Scheidt told the Brazilian television station TV Globo.
Scheidt had previously announced a big change in his life on Monday evening via Facebook and published a touching picture with his Lithuanian wife, Gintaré Scheidt, who is also an Olympic champion. It shows the two of them at the 2016 Olympic Games. In 2008, she was the first Lithuanian sailor to win a medal at the Summer Olympics with silver in the Laser Radial off Qingdao. The sports and tourism manager has been married to five-time Olympic medallist and double Olympic champion Robert Scheidt since 2008 and has always supported him by not continuing her own career.
Scheidt has won the Laser World Championship nine times in his illustrious career - a record that will remain his for the foreseeable future. He relegated Sir Ben Ainslie to bronze three times. Scheidt won gold in the Laser at the Olympics in 1996 and 2004, and silver in 2000 and 2008. In the Star boat, he added bronze and three world championship titles to his impressive medal haul. Scheidt, who was born in São Paulo, has now cancelled his attempt to try again in the speedy 49er after his last Olympic appearance in the Laser. Twice, in 2001 and 2004, the sailing world voted its Brazilian superstar the Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Scheidt now wants to pass on some of his accumulated experience to future generations and his own children.
He was one of the stars of the last Summer Olympics and is featured in this video. In the end, it didn't quite work out for the Brazilian with his sixth medal, but he won the final medal race and bowed out in style as the Laser King
After finishing fourth at the Olympic Games, Robert Scheidt had already retired as king of the laser sailors, but then tried his hand at the 49er and explains the unusual change of class here
