Udo Hessels

Now the defending Paralympic champion in the sonar three-person keelboat event, the Netherlands’ Udo Hessels began sailing at an early age.

He took up the sport more seriously though at age 25, as part of his rehabilitation after suffering a spinal-cord injury due to a tumor in his back.

By 1996, he participated in his first Paralympics in Atlanta, and by the Athens 2004 Games reached the podium for the first time with his teammates Marcel van de Veen and Mischa Rossen.

The trio then stopped sailing competitively, but took the sport back up again on a serious level when they found out the Netherlands would host the 2010 IFDS World Championships. Their comeback led to an unexpected world title that year, and then eventually a gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Now, they’re being seen as the trio to beat on the road to Rio 2016.