Sundby sails into the sunset

[divingbrit]

Sundby sails into the sunset
Siren Sundby, Norway's gold-medal winner at the Athens Olympics, is giving up her sailing career, at an age of just 23.
Siren Sundby won gold at the Olympics in Athens in 2004.
Sundby has been searching for a new sailing partner since Karianne Melleby got pregnant and gave up the sport. She had one lined up, but then had second thoughts.

"When you've won Olympic gold, you're not interested in landing in 5th place," Sundby told newspaper Aftenposten. She doesn't think there's enough time to practice with a new partner and be ready to take gold at the next Olympics in Beijing in 2008.

So she's taking summer holiday at her parents' home in Son, south of Oslo, her first real summer holiday in years. She also plans to help her sweetheart, Christopher Gundersen, as he trains for sailing competition with the Beijing Olympics as his goal.

Norway's sailing circles were saddened by Sundby's early retirement. "She's an icon," says Espen Guttormsen, sports chief of the Norwegian Sailing Federation (Norges Seilforbund). "It's too bad she won't continue, but I understand her. She's found other values in life."

Sundby won't rule out taking a job in the sailing business, but first she intends to continue as an engineering student in Copenhagen