Martin Kirketerp is a sailor from Denmark who won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but that once-in-a-lifetime competition has nothing on what he has dealt with this year.
In an interview with Olympics.com, Kirketerp admitted that this year he has both been struck by lightning and attacked by killer whales, all over a span six months.
The lightning strike occurred following a SailGP event in Singapore, where Denmark finished in second place.
“After the race, I helped sail the New Zealand boat back to the harbor, as they were attending the winning ceremony. Then a proper lightning [bolt] strikes the boat, and I’m just functioning as a human lightning conductor right there,” he said. “It was a very, very unpleasant experience, because it goes from zero to 100 in a split second. You just hope that it is ending soon and doesn’t accelerate further. You start asking yourself, where you will be in a few seconds. I was scared while it was on, I’d like to admit that.”
Olympic gold medallist Martin Kirketerp has been struck by lightning and attacked by killer whales this year.
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 7, 2023
The Dane explains what went through his mind, as the lightning went through his body. @SailGPDEN @dansksejlunion
Kirketerp admitted he does some handiwork at home, so he has been shocked a few times, but this obviously was on another level. After doctors evaluated him, Kirketerp was released from the hospital with just some lingering back pain.
As for the killer whales, Kirketerp said the attack came six months after the lighting strike, when he participated in The Ocean Race for Team JAJO.
“A family of killer whales came to our boat—two adults and their baby—and they wanted to play with us a bit. We were mostly annoyed that now the racing stopped. We took down the sails and tried to lay still, and we could see our competitors sailing past us and around the killer whales,” Kirketerp recalls. “They came over to lay next to the rudder and gave it a good beating once in a while. They didn’t come with full force and smash into it, because then it would break right away. But it is still a very large and heavy animal, so when they give a slap with the head to the rudder, the entire boat shakes.”
At 40 years old, Kirketerp’s Olympics days are over, but he is still competing in sailing competitions across the world, so long as natural disasters don’t interfere.
