MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - Charting their course to the Olympics in the women's skiff has involved weathering both physical and mental storms for Polish sailors Aleksandra 'Ola' Melzacka and her crew Sandra Jankowiak.
The pair will line up on Sunday alongside 19 other crews for the first sailing events of the 2024 Games, after putting in intense practice against training partners from Sweden and the Netherlands in the Mediterranean Sea off Marseille.
"We've had lots of ups and downs during this campaign, more ups than downs," Jankowiak, 28, said in an interview with her long-term friend Melzacka in the run-up to the Games.
Jankowiak, who quit her job to sail in the 49erFX skiff after getting a call from Melzacka asking her to crew, tore ankle ligaments while sailing the intensely physical skiff that had put her out of action for more than two months.
Melzacka, who sports a tattoo of the Olympic rings on her left bicep as a mark of her participation in the skiff with another crew in Tokyo, said her health suffered.
"Mentally, I had a little breakdown during our sailing campaign, but we managed to overcome this as well," she told Reuters, adding that a dip in form after her partner's return to sailing combined with fatigue had contributed to the episode.
"I'm an athlete who will stay on the water and push the boundaries," Melzacka said in the Polish city of Gdansk, adding that a period off, a plan to take things more slowly and support from her coach, psychologist and family had got her through.
Melzacka, who learned to sail as a child in the Optimist dinghy in the Baltic Sea off the Polish port of Gdynia, is a keen singer and will even break out in song when racing, often says Jankowiak, in the hope of a favourable wind shift.
"I finished music school and I was playing piano, so we can be a good band in the future," Jankowiak said.
As one of the lighter crews -- like other sailors the pair do not give away their weight due to competitive sensitivities -- they say they sometimes fare less well in strong winds.
"If you ask crews from (the) FX, I think everyone will lie (about their weight)," Jankowiak jokes, adding: "We can eat a lot, but sometimes its too much".
"We love pancakes," the duo say, almost in unison.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ed Osmond)
