A GUATEMALAN sailor who is hoping to get selected for the Olympics said that training with Team GBR in Weymouth has helped him to achieve his goals.

Juan Maegli, 22, from the Central American country started sailing Laser boats only seven months before the Beijing games in 2008, after spending a lifetime sailing catamarans and optimist dinghies.

He has been competing in this week’s Sail for Gold regatta.

Mr Maegli said: “I really like the sailing academy and the race course. It’s different and it’s defiantly a challenge for us. It can be very different conditions every day, but I’m really enjoying it.”

He spent time training in the borough last year with Skandia Team GBR as a member of the Team G4S 4teen programme, where the company is helping fourteen young athletes achieve their dream of competing at London 2012.

He said: “It was good to train with the British squad. They are very organised and very different to what I have in Guatemala where I train by myself on a lake.

“It was really good because it is a challenge to train by yourself. You have to be really motivated to push yourself, but I know my goals and how hard I have to work to accomplish them.”

He added: “I learnt a lot from the British squad. It was very helpful just to see how they do things and plan things. It showed me what I needed to work on.”