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Countdown to Beijing '08 - Sailing outlook
// USOC Media Services // November 13, 2006
Outlook
The U.S. Olympic Sailing Program is in the midst of an exciting resurgence, fueled by unprecedented talent and a strong spirit. Under the new leadership of Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Dean Brenner, Olympic Director Katie Kelly and High Performance Director Gary Bodie and a new generation of sailing talent, the sport is building a new program of strength on and off the water. The US SAILING Team is highly competitive with the best in the world in many Olympic and Paralympic Classes. The US SAILING Team has had an unprecedented number of athletes who have produced exceptional results, including podium finishes at the top three international regattas: US SAILING’s Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR) in Miami, Fla., Kiel Week in Kiel, Germany and the Holland Regatta.
In addition, US SAILING Team members have consistently risen in the world rankings. The U.S. boasts two No. 1 ranked sailors/teams in the world by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF): Laser Radial World Champion Paige Railey and Star crew George Szabo and Eric Monroe. Anna Tunnicliffe is ranked No. 2 in the world in Laser Radial class.
Other talented sailors to watch are US Sailing Team’s No. 1 ranked 470 skipper and crew Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and David Hughes. In the 49er class, three teams could be medal contenders, including Holland Regatta winners Morgan Larson (Capitola, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Lafayette, Ind.), Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.) and Zack Maxam (Coronado, Calif.) and Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.) and Chris Rast.
In the Star class, any of six American teams could be medal contenders at the 2008 Olympics. Ranked No. 1 on the US Sailing Team in the Star class, the duo of Brad Nichol (Sunapee, N.H.) and Andy Horton (Newport, R.I.) won a silver medal at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR, after winning the gold medal the year before. And George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) and Eric Monroe (Corona del Mar, Calif.) have held on to the number one spot in the ISAF Star rankings, while four other teams rank in the top 15: Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel (both San Diego, Calif.); Andrew MacDonald and Brian Faith (both Laguna Beach, Calif.); Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Mark Strube (West Palm Beach, Fla.); and John Dane and Austin Sperry.
Storylines
Leading the Way: Young Female Sailors
The US Sailing Team has seen a new wave of female talent in their early 20s perform like no other group of US sailors has in over a generation. Female US Sailing Team members have earned 29 podium finishes at major regattas in 2005 and 2006, including world championships in their class, continental regattas and ISAF Grade 1 events.
The US Sailing Team dominates the national and international Laser Radial class: Paige Railey and Anna Tunnicliffe are ranked No. 1 and 2 in the world, respectively, by ISAF.
Multiple Stars in the Star Class
The US Sailing Team also dominates the Star class, where any of six American teams could be medal contenders at the 2008 Olympic Games. The number of outstanding teams competing with this level of success is unprecedented this early in the Olympic quadrennium.
Five US teams are ranked by ISAF in the Top 20 of the Star Class: No. 1: George Szabo and Eric Monroe; No. 4: Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel; No. 9: Andrew MacDonald and Brian Faith; No. 11: Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube; No. 13: John Dane and Austin Sperry.
The duo of Brad Nichol and Andy Horton , ranked #1 on the US Sailing Team in the Star class, is another team to watch for the 2008 Olympic Games. They kicked off 2006 by winning a silver medal at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR), after winning the gold medal in 2005.
George Szabo and Eric Monroe have held on to the top spot in the ISAF Star rankings, and now count an impressive 400-plus point lead over their nearest rivals.
More Podium Finishes in the 49er Class
In May of 2006, three 49er teams finished in the Top Ten – including the winner -- at the Holland Regatta, an ISAF Grade 1 event: US Sailing Team-members Morgan Larson and Pete Spaulding won the gold, while Dalton Bergan and Zack Maxam came in fourth and Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast finished seventh.
The first time US Sailing Team-members Morgan Larson and Pete Spaulding sailed together in 2005, they won US SAILING’s Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta (OCR). Ever since, the Olympic hopefuls have dominated the 49er fleet, proving they have the talent and speed to compete with the best in the world. Larson and Spaulding also placed second in 2005 at the 49er World Championship.
Olympic Sailing Program Turnaround
Under the new leadership of Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Dean Brenner, Olympic Director Katie Kelly and High Performance Director Gary Bodie, the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program has made a dramatic turnaround and continues to prosper.
After the 2004 Olympic Games, the program suffered from declining revenue and unhappy sailors. The U.S. Olympic Sailing Program faced several financial challenges in the world arena: Several competitor nations were, and still are, outspending us by a significant ratio. American athletes were competing essentially as amateurs in a quickly-evolving professional world. Other countries had been pumping government money into their sailing programs for nearly two decades, while American athletes were forced to spend the majority of their time raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for their Olympic campaigns, instead of training. The prospect of competing against fully-funded professionals was simply becoming too great a financial and time burden. Many of the most talented sailors were
choosing to do other things with their lives. And the sailors who did compete were so financially strapped, it was difficult to effectively train for events and thus win medals.
Thanks to a new generation of leadership, including the youngest director and chairman in history – Kelly and Brenner are both in their 30s – and a new generation of sailing talent, the sport is building a new program of strength on and off the water. This new team immediately recalibrated how the program operated, starting with significant efforts to raise revenue and cut expenses. The program’s leadership also turned its focus on its team of top elite performance athletes and their needs and goals. The entire program is now driven to focus resources on the athletes who prove that they have good chances of winning medals at the Olympic Games.
The results have been dramatic. Thanks to corporate sponsorship and private fundraising, the new program has raised more than $1.5 million in private donations in a little more than one year – twice as much as had been raised in any previous four-year period, and the funded budget is now more than 100 percent larger than it was four years ago. With a growing top line, they infused new energy into the Olympic Sailing Program and have a whole new generation of talented sailors who are committing to full-time training efforts. American athletes produced four world championships in 2005, amidst a longer list of impressive results racing against the best in the world.
Brenner, Kelly and Bodie are transforming the team into a professionalized, elite program that supports the sport’s best athletes and helps them compete against the rest of the world. They are tirelessly dedicated to supporting the best of the best – the sailors who will not only represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but win medals.
2008 Olympic Team Trials - Sailing: Dates announced
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