Eight Years of Progress, but no Sailing Medals in 2012
I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night. But one moment from 2004 stays with me as if it happened only minutes ago: the bitter, acidic, punch in the stomach when we came to the end of our Olympic dream.
Yesterday as I watched US chances for even a single sailing medal in 2012 slip away, it was like being punched in the stomach all over again. I’ve been a member of the Olympic Sailing Committee since I retired from Olympic sailing, part of a large and mostly invisible team that thinks and breathes Olympic sailing on a daily basis. We all care deeply about this team and about our sport, and nobody expected us to come up so short after so much work. As Anna Tunnicliffe put it, “It hurts.”
Winning individual races in sailing isn’t enough to medal; consistent performance over a ten race series is the only way to finish on the podium.
On July 27, 2012, while the US Olympic Sailing Team dressed for the Opening Ceremonies, I wrote about how much progress the Olympic program has made since 2004. And I told the 2012 team members: “You stand on the shoulders of all who have gone before you.” That’s still true, though quite ironic at this point. Because what’s the lesson when a team that has made so much progress produces the same mediocre results we posted eight years ago?
Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandermoer, and Debbie Capozzi had to win a tough Trials over three other top-ranked US teams to go the Olympics. They were the top-ranked team going into the event, gold medal favorites with all the pressure of that status, and they amazed me with their 3Ps (Passion… Progression… Perfection…) and 4Ds (Dream, Desire, Dedication, Discipline). I would add a 4th P to that list: Professionalism.
And yet after all that work, after doing so many things right and winning eight of the last ten grade one match racing events—they were eliminated from the quarterfinals. Instead they will race for fifth place overall.
That was the final blow in what has been two weeks of heartbreak for the entire US Olympic Sailing program. 2008 Silver medalist Zach Railey finished twelfth overall; his sister Paige (also a medal favorite, even as a first time Olympian) finished eighth. Our doublehanded teams all teetered on the edge of greatness, just as my triple-handed team did in 2004; each posted top results in a race here or there, but they failed to deliver the consistent results needed to stand on the podium after ten races.
If my sport passed out medals for each race like swimming and track and field, I’d have two gold medals. The 2012 Team would have 10 golds—nine of them won by Anna, Molly, and Debbie. Instead this team that worked so hard—fusing itself into a group of professional sailors ready to take on the world—goes home empty-handed.
We will analyze this to death, and hopefully we will find a way to post more consistent scores in 2016. I do believe that the huge changes we’ve made since 2004 have laid a foundation that will eventually lead to improved performance; we were just hoping we’d see results a bit quicker.
Sailing is a quirky sport, and all you can do is show up as prepared as you know how to be and let the chips fall as they may. The 2012 US Olympic Sailing Team has handled their disappointment with the same professionalism and team spirit that they handled the intense pressure leading up to the Games, which is truly something to be proud of.
But that won’t lessen the bitter, acidic, punch in the stomach that marks the end of an Olympic dream.
