Florian Spalteholz
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GermanyHamburg, West Germany
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Florian Spalteholz |
| Nationality | Germany |
| Born | 4 March 1977 Hamburg, West Germany |
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb) |
| Sailing career | |
| Class | Multihull |
| Club | Norddeutscher Regatta Verein |
| Coach | Rigo de Nijs (NOR) |
Florian Spalteholz (born 4 March 1977) is a German former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class.[1] Together with his partner Johannes Polgar, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in eighth place.[2] A member of North German Regatta Club (German: Norddeutscher Regatta Verein), Spalteholz trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his Norwegian-born personal coach Rigo de Nijs.[3]
Spalteholz competed for the German sailing squad, as a 31-year-old skipper in the Tornado class, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Leading up to their maiden Games, he and skipper Polgar topped the selection criteria in a duel against brothers Tino and Niko Mittelmeier for the country's Tornado berth, based on their cumulative scores attained at two international regattas stipulated by the German Sailing Federation (German: Deutscher Segler Verband).[4] The German duo started off the race series in the middle of the fleet until the shifty wind conditions propelled them to the front on the final half with a single victory and a triad of top-five marks, making both Spalteholz and Polgar eligible for the medal race.[5][6] An unforeseen capsize by the German duo on the initial run, however, saw their medal chances vanish, plummeting them further to eighth overall with 74 net points.[2][7][8]
