Ivan Pastor, Olympic Athlete, ISAF Champion

“I really do not feel that I have ‘chosen’ a profession; I feel that I simply fought to make my dreams a reality,” says 5-time ISAF Champion and 4-time Olympian Iván Pastor, “and I have trained hard to make those dreams come true.”

Born in Alacante, Spain, in 1980, Iván has been training and fighting for his dreams since he was 8 years old. His father and uncle were windsurfers. His uncle had a windsurfing school during the summers. Study and practice became second nature to Iván, as did participation in many Regattas and youth competitions. With each stride, momentum builds, and at age 13, Iván won his first Spanish Championship Sub-14. “I knew then that my future’s aim was for me to participate in the Olympic games,” Iván recalls.

Iván won a place at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, “without resources but a lot of drive and hope,” he says. After a 12th place finish, Iván won several international races the following year and – after finishing among the top 10 in all of them - became the top ranking worldwide competitor of the ISAF (International Sailing Federation), international governing body for the sport of sailing. He finished 9th in the 2008 Peking Games, and followed that by winning the Silver Medal at the World Cup in Miami and Silver Medal at the South American Championship in Brazil. Many ups and downs followed: a bout with mononucleosis, a shoulder injury. “But as I always say, the best way to get over it is to train more, and harder,” Iván affirms. 2010 culminated in his leading the ISAF’s Worldwide Ranking – for the third time.

Iván finished 16th at the 2012 Olympics in London, and 9th at the 2016 Rio Games. These rankings did not come without sacrifice, injury, and recovery. Each time, Iván’s mantra to “work harder” spurred him on. He earned his fourth – and fifth - #1 ISAF Worldwide Rankings during this time.

Whether you’re on land or on the water, Iván points out, every step counts. As one of our 2017 CCILU Ambassadors, this extraordinary athlete appreciates the dual qualities of style and technology evident in our new Horizon collection. “When I choose a pair of shoes,” he says, “I have to like the design, the colors and I also look for comfort, but it is really when I put them on when I see if I like the shoes.”

As he joins CCILU as a 2017 Ambassador, Iván is training for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which would be his fifth race for the podium. He is certainly on track, as he stands on the precipice of another World Championship in the 2016 Slake Raceboard competition, currently taking place in Brisbane, Australia. He previously won that title in 2014.

A closing word of advice from a “life enthusiast”: “Fight every day, focus on your wins, and NEVER GIVE UP!”