Doesn't it make you proud to be British? Our Olympic Sailing Team has promised much over the past four years since Sydney, winning 102 medals at Grade 1 events in that time. And cometh the hour, cometh The Team. As I write, we've bagged two Gold, one Silver, and a medal in the 49er of a value yet to be determined.
The Team GBR sailors would never allow themselves the luxury of ‘would have, could have, should have', but it's plain that if the wind had blown a little stronger then GBR's medal haul would have been even greater. And the TV coverage would have been greater too. Not that I'm complaining, as for the first time the BBC gave sailing the coverage that it deserved (provided you had access to the Interactive Channels via Freeview, cable or satellite).
In fact you could say that considering the woefully light conditions, the BBC gave sailing more than it deserved. Even to someone intimately involved in the sport, much of the light wind footage was like watching paint dry, and it was more gripping to follow the ups and downs of the races on the excellent ISAF website, where you could follow the mark rounding positions, blow by blow, in real time. Following the racing this way really gave you a sense of just what a game of Snakes & Ladders this Olympic Regatta has been. If you weren't aware of the website while the Games was on, it's still worth going to look at it now. Go to www.sailing.org/olympics2004
At least there have been two great days of sailing for the TV cameras, and let's hope there was more after I filed this edition of Rolltacks. The first took place early on, and produced some fantastic footage of the 470s, Ynglings and Finns wiping out all over the place. Except of course for our lot, who were rock solid in the breeze. And then the last full day of 49er racing showed what these thrilling boats are capable of in moderate breezes.
Richard Simmonds did a great job of conveying the action in a way that explained the sport to landlubbers without patronizing us sailing addicts. It's a hard balance to strike but Richard has proven himself the master of appealing to every level of the sailing audience. A few guest commentators were wheeled in to provide the expert analysis, and the RYA's Barrie Edgington proved a revelation in his commentary alongside Richard during the closing stages of the 49er series. Barrie knows his stuff, of course, having competed at the Games as a windsurfer before joining the RYA's Olympic coaching staff. And he's quite useful in an RS800, so he was the perfect choice to contribute to the 49er commentary.
The thing that impressed me most about the British sailors was their ‘never-say-die' approach, no matter how bad a hand they had been dealt. It was a trait of the Sydney team in 2000, and it was very much in evidence on the Saronic Gulf. Of course, king of the pressure is Ben Ainslie, who seems to thrive on boxing his way out of a tight spot. As the Incredible Hulk used to say: "Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry." But unfortunately for the rest of the Finn fleet, that's exactly what the French representative Guillaume Florent did to Ben in Race 2.
That made Big Ben mad, real mad, and he took out his anger on the Meltemi wind the very next day, bagging two bullets in fine fashion. It was only justice after Florent was plainly using gamesmanship in that port/starboard crossing incident. On the TV footage there were none of the tell-tail signs of a Finn having to bear away, such as the boom lifting off the deck as he eased the sail to bear away. I can't quite understand how the Jury failed to see this in their reassessment of the case following Ben's appeal.
But I suppose we should be thankful to Florent really. He has only enhanced the legend of Ben Ainslie as one of the greatest sailors ever. With two Golds and a Silver, he now stands alongside Rodney Pattisson as Britain's most successful Olympic sailor, and I hope that his Team New Zealand duties don't distract him from adding to that tally in four years' time at Beijing. What amazed me was to see Ben, while being interviewed by the BBC's Suzi Perry some days after his victory, admitting just how close he had come to throwing in the towel after that fraught first day on the water. But I don't really believe the thought crossed his mind for more than a second.
As for a fourth medal, Ben has already hinted that he might be back in the Finn, joking that he's too fat for the Laser and probably wouldn't have time to get acquainted with a different class. That's great news for us fans, but perhaps not what the likes of Andrew Simpson and Britain's other leading Finn sailors would want to hear. Whilst I don't think they would dare put themselves in the same category of exceptional ability as Ben, it must be incredibly frustrating for a sailor of Simpson's calibre (third at last year's Worlds) to look on at the Olympic Games as a bystander.
Of course, as well as Florent the other rival that has made Ben Ainslie great is Robert Scheidt. In Athens, the legendary Brazilian emerged from a light-wind Laser regatta that played to none of his strengths, and yet still he won. Scheidt was in philosophical mood afterwards: "Normally you learn more when you lose than when you win," he said, words that I hope will give heart to Paul Goodison in fourth place overall. When saying that, Scheidt was probably also thinking back to the devastation of being sailed out of Gold by Ben in Sydney. "Four years later I think I'm more mature and the experience taught me a lot of things," he said.
Perhaps it hasn't yet taught him to avoid Ben. Scheidt has definitely ruled out returning to the Games in a Laser, and he is rumoured to have been muttering about the Finn. The prospect of the two great rivals meeting to do battle once again is truly mouthwatering. The duel stands at one apiece so far, so Beijing would be a great stage for a third and decisive Clash of the Titans.
It was heartening to see how quick our sailors were to praise their supporters in the background, from training partners, to friends and family, to the RYA and so on. Shirley and the two Sarahs have always said that they had a fourth team member in the form of their coach Ian Walker. The double Silver medallist seemed to bring out an all-round performance from the girls that really wasn't evident before this event. From the moment Shirley set foot in an Yngling she has been super-fast in the strong winds, but has always appeared vulnerable in the light. I remember looking at a score sheet of Spa Regatta last year when Shirley notched up a string of firsts in the early part of the week, followed by a run of scores in the 20s and 30s at the end. So I thought it must have been windy at the beginning and light at the end, and apparently it was! My heart was in my mouth watching that first day's Yngling racing in light and shifty winds, but the girls defied the form book and were solid throughout.
The other thing about Shirley that defied expectation was her temperament. By her own admission, in her Europe days she used to be a nervous wreck on the big occasions. But this time she seemed to be the steady rock from which the two Sarahs, the Olympic debutantes, could draw their strength. Coming off the line of the first race, they said that it felt just like any other beginning to a regatta. This for many seems to be the big issue with the Olympic Games. Some say the key to success is to treat it like any other regatta, others say that that is impossible, with all the security, media attention and general hype that goes with the Games, and that you should accept that it is different and get on with it. I suppose some people rise to the big occasion, and they should make the most of all the hype, whilst others prefer to be low key and to shut out all the fuss going on around them. It's a matter of horses for courses and doing what works for you.
The medal that impressed me the most was Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield's Silver in the 470 class. For my money this, along with the Laser, was the toughest fleet in Athens, with incredible depth of talent. The reigning World Champions from Australia could only manage 12th while the home talent and former World Champions Andreas Kosmatopoulos and Kostas Trigonis were 18th. The Brits bounced back impressively from the leather medal (4th place) in Sydney and peaked at exactly the right time for the Games, playing a mature game of patience while others lost their way. I'm delighted for them, and hope they carry on through to Beijing.
The USA continues to win its medals from its most experienced athletes, with their Gold-medal winning 470 team having a combined age of 87 years, with 47 of those in the crew Kevin Burnham. He hasn't yet ruled out retirement. Could he come back to Beijing as a medal-winning crew in his fifties? That would be incredible. No doubt their success in Athens has caused many other ageing Olympians to ask whether they still have it in them for another shot at glory.
The Olympic Regatta was full of the usual fairy tales and horror stories. One nightmare I heard about was the Polish 49er team who won the first race after a final-run reshuffle, only later to be disqualified for not wearing their buoyancy aids. The Italians were lobbed for the same reason. If this is true, then these two teams should share the Darwin Award for throwing a race in the most suicidal fashion possible. Many skiff crews don't like wearing buoyancy aids, and I'm one of them, but if the sailing instructions for the Olympic Games said they were compulsory, I think I might just wear one.
