Olympics

Roy Dunster argues the case for change in advance of the debate in Florida at the World Sailing Conference. Will it make any difference at all? Probably not. The Member National Authorities (MNAs) have a long history of voting for short-term, self interest. Understandable - up to a point. But not at the expense of losing sailing from the Olympics. Roy makes the case for a bolder choice....

In the words of Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”. In that context, sailing is in for a rough time…...So says Roy Dunster in this add-on to the podcast chat from last week, where the management consultant warned that the Olympic Regatta must go through revolutionary change in order to maximise its chances of survival....

South African sailor Roy Dunster argues that Olympic sailing is stuck in a time warp. When the rest of the world is moving at such a pace, Roy says the line-up of Olympic events should reflect those changing times....

Anyone has the right to start a petition. However, when it’s as misleading as the one about the equipment for the 2024 Sailing Olympic Games, it deserves a response. Some of the impressions that you might have from the petition motivation:

1. Our sport is under imminent threat!

2. The very future of our sport is at risk!

Day 1 of the Mid Year Meeting and the Events Committee discussed all the options and laid out the proposal to include the following events in the Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta line-up:

Windsurfing for Men & Women
Kitesurfing (Mixed)
Finn (Men)
A new singlehander (Women)

So, no room for the 470......

There's a feeling that the International Olympic Committee is breathing down the neck of World Sailing, and watching our sport’s decisions very closely, writes Andy Rice. “Change or Die” more or less sums up the feeling. We’d better make some radical changes quickly, or else they’ll be forced upon us. Worst case, sailing is ejected from the Games altogether....

French Finn sailor Jonathan Lobert recalls that tense medal race from London 2012 when he just managed to scrape a bronze medal from a big scrap for glory....

Sailjuice.com's editor Andy Rice has been following the progress of Pete Burling and Blair Tuke closely, ever since they won silver at the London 2012 Olympics. Last year Andy interviewed the Kiwis in the build-up to the Rio 2016 Games, which they went on to dominate. Now they're the youngest winners of the America's Cup.....

The London 1948 Olympic Games was the start of a remarkable run of dominance from one man, one that would last unbroken for an incredible four Olympic Games and remain unequalled in sailing until Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR) in 2012...

Hannah Mills gives an insight into what it took to win the 470 Women's gold medal with Saskia Clark at Rio 2016. "I was completely unprepared for how different an experience Rio would feel to London. London felt like the official Games, where you absolutely knew it was the Olympics and everything was where it should be. Rio however, felt like a very relaxed Games where you really had to focus on the fact it was the Olympics and this was it!!!"