Alexandr Denisiuc
Moldova is a landlocked country in Europe, where football, rugby and wrestling are among the major sports. None of this however has stopped Alexandr Denisiuc following his competitive sailing dreams, as he continues to excel as a result of the Perth 2011 Emerging Nations Program.
Alexandr attended the inaugural Perth 2011 ENP camp in 2009, where he sailed for the first time in the Indian Ocean. Despite the initial difficulties of tackling Fremantle’s famous sea breeze known affectionately by locals as the “Fremantle Doctor”, the Moldovan has relished the chance to come back to Perth to attend the various camps.
He has been sailing for eight years and has competed in the Laser class for the past three years. Throughout his involvement in the Emerging Nations programme, he has rewardingly gone from having no world ranking, to be ranked 212th in February 2011. He has found recent success with a finish of 23rd in Sail Sydney, 46th in the Sail Melbourne World Cup event and 21st in the 2011 Australian Laser Championships.
Now, just one year after joining an Emerging Nations Programme, Denisiuc is travelling the world. He has since teamed up with a fellow ENP athlete from Serbia to compete in the Europa Cups and the World Cup in France.
Denisiuc said the ENP created ideal conditions for moving forward with sailing as a career, offering high-class coaching, quality equipment and the opportunity to meet sailors from around the world.
"Since joining the program, I have a new-found inspiration for sailing," he said.
"I have learned so much, and have achieved new levels of fitness and experience.
"I have sailed day after day with wind, which is impossible to do at home where a week of wind is always followed by a week with no wind at all."
- Name: Alexandr Denisiuc
- Nation: Moldova
- Discipline: Men's One Person Dinghy