Annalise Murphy has put her bid for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal on hold for about 10 months.
She Irish silver medalist at the last Olympics has joined the Turn the Tide on Plastic team in the Volvo Ocean Race and hence she will be busy with that event for the following 10 months.
Annalise was expected to take part in the Laser Radial world championships last month. But, he had to pull off from the event as she suffered from a knee injury. It looks like the knee injury has completely healed and she has recovered from it. This might be the reason why the Irish National Yacht Club sailor has said yes to joining the Turn the Tide on Plastic for the forthcoming Volvo Ocean Race. Along with her, Bianca Cook from New Zealand will also be joining the Turn the Tide on Plastic team.
With the inclusion of Annalise and Cook, the Turn the Tide on Plastic team has a total of 10 sailors on board. There are just 40 more days left for the start of this year’s Volvo Ocean Race. Both the new entrants to the team are under 30 and will provide the youthfulness and exuberance to the team. The team is a youth focused and skipper Dee Caffari will be happy to lead them to glory.
Caffari said that Cook and Annalise will add the needed strength to the team and a regard them as very good additions. Annalise has proven her skills and her strength at the Olympics stage, but is still a kid when it comes to the offshore sailing. Bianca, on the other hand, has loads of experience with boats and should be comfortable for the offshore racing.
Caffari said that the Volvo Ocean Race will pose a challenge to both the new additions and it is a great pleasure for her to see the two new entrants on the boat every day.