Good, good


Andy Rice looks at some of the things sailing is doing to protect its Olympic status… and talks to somebody who typifies the progress that has already been made


While it’s customary to beat ourselves up about how much better Olympic sailing could be, it’s worth taking stock of how far the sport has travelled. How different will the Olympic regatta of 2028 be compared with the Olympic regatta of 1984? Long Beach was, and will again be, the venue for the Los Angeles Games, but there will be some striking differences. In 1984 there were just seven events, all


of which were ‘Open’, but which in reality meant ‘Men’. There were some notable exceptions: Trine Elvstrøm who crewed for her father Paul in the Danish Tornado cata- maran; and Cathy Foster who beat the likes of Lawrie Smith and Andy Barker to repre- sent Great Britain in the 470, crewed by Pete Newlands. Oh, and the USA won four golds and three silvers across the seven events. How times have changed, with the medals much more evenly distributed and


50 SEAHORSE


sailing getting close to the International Olympic Committee’s demand for gender parity. The category that stands out is the Men’s Heavyweight Dinghy, the Finn, for which there is no women’s equivalent. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Finn is most under threat, but something will have to give. World Sailing president, Kim Chris- tensen, says: ‘We cannot take our place in the Games for granted. We must do more to align ourselves with the Olympic movement, being more proactive in developing in line with Olympic Agenda 2020, including gender equality and youth participation. ‘As a sport we are confirmed for Paris


2024 – but the decisions we are making now are fundamental to a strong proposition for keeping the platform intact. Mixed events have been a new and positive part of Agenda 2020. We know this is something that can accelerate our women’s participation and we also know this is a recommendation that can benefit our sport which hasn’t been a possibility in the past.’ More mixed events are coming into other


Olympic disciplines and after the ‘contro- versy’ of bringing men and women together to race the Nacra 17, the idea of such events is now a given, it’s a non-issue. Discussions at World Sailing’s annual conference in Mexico continued around possible new Olympic events for the future. Gaining traction is the idea first put


forward by Bruno Troublé with support from the editor of this magazine and Mark Turner, for a male/female doublehanded offshore keelboat for a non-stop race of a few days’ duration. This would be a unique event in the


whole Games, and could well draw a large audience from outside the usual circles. But even with organiser-supplied, manufacturer- sponsored boats, as is envisaged, there’s no doubt this would be an expensive medal to win, perhaps one for wealthy nations only. There is also talk about ways of bringing


in a second medal, perhaps some team rac- ing, some relay racing with existing boats, for a tag-on event at the end of the Games. This would be similar to athletics where run- ners, having completed their individual dis- ciplines, compete together in relays. It would provide the opportunity for the talented, the so-called heroes, to win more than one medal at a Games. Maybe not six or seven like swimmer Michael Phelps, but it’s a start. The theme for this year’s conference was


‘Uniting the Sport’, and there’s no better example of that than Pete Burling and Blair Tuke. Having won Olympic 49er gold in Rio 2016, the Kiwis went on to sail Emirates Team New Zealand to victory in the America’s Cup. Now Burling, recently crowned Rolex World Sailor of the Year, and Tuke are racing in the Volvo Ocean Race, on Brunel and Mapfre respectively.


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