Rio: Polly Powrie and Jo Aleh relaxed for gold medal defence

Polly Powrie (L) and Jo Aleh (R) (Photosport)
Polly Powrie (L) and Jo Aleh (R) (Photosport)

With a first Olympics and a gold medal under her belt, Polly Powrie is more relaxed in Rio.

"[I] Just kind of know the deal a bit more," said Powrie.

"The sailing doesn't change but all this off the water stuff, you're sort of a bit more used to.  It's nice to know you've been there before, I suppose."

That style suits Powrie and 470 team mate Jo Aleh. Though they haven't received a lot of attention after their gold in London, they say they're happy to stay out of the spotlight.

"The last four years has been about improving us and improving our sailing, learning.  And the publicity side of it," said Aleh

"I think we're quite happy to slip under the radar to be honest. We do what we do and can't really control what everyone else does, thinks or says."

The pair face tough opposition to defending their title with the 470 one of the most wide open of the Olympic classes.

"There's probably five or six of us at the top that have been mixing it up all season.

"It's just enjoyable to try and produce a good performance in the moment and hopefully beat your competition while you're doing it."

The secret to that will be concentrating on what they can control.

"[We're] trying to sail each race as well as possible,  get a good start, be smart, look around, [get] each race in itself as close to a perfect race - mildly impossible, but we'll try.

"That's what we want from ourselves from these next two weeks."

That could see them back on top of the podium.

Newshub.