Pere Millet: "After winning the Olympic medal, my father told me that I had to get to work"

BarcelonaAt the restaurant of the Reial Club Nàutic de Barcelona, they put up a wooden sign with the name Pere Millet Soler (Barcelona, 1952) when he dines there. A gesture of deference towards one of the historic names in sailing, one of the first Catalan athletes to win an Olympic medal. He did so 50 years ago, on August 8, 1976, with a silver medal in the 470 class at the Montreal Games, paired with Toño Gorostegui. Half a century later, he recalls that achievement speaking with ARA with sea views.

What do you feel remembering what happened half a century ago?

— It's a long time. Wow. It's nice that 50 years later those of us who lived it are still in touch. Nothing compares to being an Olympian. We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, as it was at the moment when they finally bet on sailing in Spain by creating a training center in Palamós with a foreign coach, Paul Maes, who was Belgian. And in my case, I was lucky that it was the first time the 470 class was Olympic.

His career has some coincidences that worked in his favor. A lucky man.

— Yes. I started sailing in Masnou, as my father was from there. I started sailing in 1966, I think. And almost by chance they proposed to me if I wanted to try a 470. There was a race and they were missing a crew member. And I won a regatta partnering with Miquel Ramentol, a guy from Masnou. Together we sailed for a few years with the 470, which luckily was chosen to be an Olympic boat for the 1976 Games. What luck, because here in Catalonia we had people who made them and it was a boat we mastered. In 1973 the Federation summoned a group of sailors to a course specifically for crew members who would train seriously in Palamós. And we were sailing until Kings' Day under the gaze of Pol Maes. It was he who made me a proposal: to go to a regatta in France partnering with Toño Gorostegui, a guy from Santander. That's how we met. We sailed for a day in Palamós. It went well and we were tenth in Cannes. And that day Toño told me that he had told his parents that he didn't want to study. He wanted to be an Olympian and, therefore, that he would stay in Palamós. And he asked me what I would do.

And what did he answer?

— I was studying. Second or third year of chemical engineering at the Institut Químic de Sarrià. I told him that my priority was my career, but that I would try to combine it. I used to go up on weekends to train. And that's how we started competing. And the results started coming, winning the state championships as early as the first of October.

Until then, had you dreamed of being an Olympian?

— The possibility of being an Olympian appeared very late. One must consider that there was a large group of boys training and they all wanted to go to the Games. That group of young people gained experience in important competitions such as Kiel Week. I had other priorities, because in 1974 I finished my degree and went to do my military service.

What was your relationship with Toño like?

— It was love at first sight. We understood each other from the first moment. It is true that we, at first, were a very light crew. In sailing, weight is an important factor and when the wind blew, we suffered. But technology was evolving and it was in our favor. When I started, there were some sailors who weighed 120 kg. But then we became lighter and lighter. That helped us. I remember the first European championship we went to together. It didn't go very well and the next day I was entering Sant Climent Sescebes to do my military service. So I couldn't go to the World Championship that year. Toño went with Manuel Albalat, a guy from Palamós, and they were champions! And me doing military service...

Was he afraid of being forgotten?

— No, since Toño had told me to stay calm. He waited for me to go to the Games, things that mark you. He lives in Santander, but we keep in touch. From time to time we meet to play golf.

The 1976 games were held in a lake in Ontario, near Toronto. They were not held in the sea. Did it affect?

— We were used to sailing on lakes and also on reservoirs, it was common to do it in Spain, back then! We often went to one near Vitoria where the state championships were held. Or one near Badajoz or one near Madrid. Sailing in fresh water changes, due to density. We were able to go to the regatta course in Canada a week before the Olympics and also when a World Cup was held on Lake Ontario on the United States side. Then we would take the car to cross to Canada, to Kingston, where the Games would be held. We slept in student barracks. It was fun until Toño felt unwell. He had hepatitis, it was a scare.

Spain had won only one medal in sailing until then, Santi Amat's gold in 1932. Nobody expected a medal, I understand.

— That medal from Amat really had merit, in 1932. I got to know him, he was passionate about sailing. We were cautious at the Games. The year 1975 had been bad. Fortunately, we qualified. And the people from the Roga shipyards, from Vilassar, who made the 470s, appeared. And they made us a new boat just for us. And it was a matter of trying it and seeing that this boat was fantastic. In fact, they made us a second boat. And we made the mistake of sending the newest one to Canada, when we had hardly tested it. Toño always said that if we had sent the first boat, we could have done better.

Could you have won the gold?

— Who knows. We were very regular. We didn't win a single race, but we were the most regular, always between second and eighth place. The last day was nerve-wracking. The Soviets were out of the podium, the Australians got in. It was too windy. We started second and were cautious. Upon arrival, we knew that the silver was ours.

What was the atmosphere like at the Games? Were they the Games of Nadia Comaneci, did you see her?

— On television. We couldn't be in Montreal. We had to be at the sailing venue, in Kingston, a very quiet university city near Toronto. We arrived 15 days early. On the day of the opening ceremony, they offered us to go to the inaugural ceremony, but we didn't go. In Kingston there wasn't a single journalist. And the day before the last race, the first ones arrived when they saw that we could win a medal. Àlex Botines arrived and Avelino Pi, a photographer. On the day of the closing ceremony, we were able to go to Montreal. We wanted to go out and party, but those from the Olympic Committee didn't let us, they made us go straight to the airport, and upon arrival we discovered that the plane that was supposed to take us was just leaving Madrid. They hadn't let us go out to party for fear that we would make a scene. I'm not sure how that return flight took off, as everyone had bought everything. Gifts, technology... in 1976 going to Canada was going to the first world, it wasn't like now.

How was the reception in Barcelona?

— Exciting. There was a huge crowd at the airport. The whole Masnou club, friends, curious people... Think that in a month I had made only one call to my parents. And my father spent years reminding me that it was a collect call that cost them a lot. And months later my father was already telling me that I had been able to enjoy sailing, but that it was time for me to start working. Months later I was already working. I continued sailing with dinghies, but it was the end of my competitive career. I have always continued sailing, but in a different way. I still sail. Tomorrow we will go to Blanes if the weather permits.