Weymouth gets the Games
If sailing wasn't already riding on a high in this country - what with our Olympic successes and the Ellen MacArthur effect - we now have the once-in-a-lifetime boost of hosting the Games for ourselves in 2012. I spoke to our Gold medallists about what they thought about it. Not surprisingly they were over the moon about the decision, for all the reasons you might expect. One reason that did surprise me, however, was how much they were looking forward to not having to travel so much. The thought of being able to ‘commute' to Weymouth rather than the travel the world is actually very appealing.
For Iain Percy and Shirley Robertson in particular, this was an incentive to carry on and campaign for another Games, where perhaps they might not have done if another country had won the 2012 bid. Not that anyone is saying they'll definitely be there in seven years' time, as by then Percy, Robertson and Ainslie will be considered very much part of the old guard. But the prospect of racing in home waters will probably be too tempting a prospect for them to ignore, however much their dodgy knees and creaky backs might protest!
Historically, host nations nearly always win more medals. In Los Angeles 1984, the USA won a gold or silver in every class. Spain notched up four golds and one silver in Barcelona 1992, far more than they have managed before or since. The same goes for Australia in 2000. Never having shown much promise on the Olympic stage, the Aussies excelled themselves in Sydney Harbour, finishing second nation overall to Team GBR with four medals. And then in Athens they won none.
So all the signs suggest Team GBR should improve on their usual medal haul. But is this really possible when we've already won five medals at each of the past two Games? Sailors and RYA staff are quite divided on this one. Master of the impossible, Ben Ainslie, doesn't think it possible. Ever since Sydney, Team GBR has been looking over its shoulder, waiting for the rest of the world to catch up, and by then Ben believes Britain's advantage will have been matched by other leading nations.
RYA chief executive Rod Carr, however, is a little more bullish. "Are we more or less likely to win? You bet we're more likely to win. There is no question of there being a home advantage. But it's certainly a tall order. It gets ever harder." As Rod rightly points out, the other critical success factor is how much talent is around at the time. Are the likes of Ainslie, Robertson and Percy a phenomenon never to be repeated, or is the current generation of teenagers and early-20-somethings going to match them for talent and ambition? All the signs are good, and given an equal amount of talent in 2012, Rod says he'd be disappointed if they didn't at least match their recent performances.
Judging by the Volvo ISAF Youth World Championships in Korea, there are good young sailors coming through to continue the good work of our current Olympians. The team put in a good performance to finish 2nd in the Volvo Trophy for best nation, behind regular winners France. Oh well, we had to give them something after the Olympic decision, didn't we?
Best Team GBR performance was from Giles Scott who took gold in the Laser. Along with Scott's gold came silver in the Hobie 16 for Tom Phipps and John Cook, and a couple of bronzes in the girl's Laser Radial and the boys' 420, for Alison Young and Tom Mallandine/James Clark respectively. Hannah Mills and Peggy Webster narrowly missed a medal in the girls' 420, but their 4th overall still provided a useful contribution to the team's performance in the battle of the nations. It was Hannah Mills who made headlines back in 2002 for asking Tony Blair to back London's bid for 2012 so that she could win a gold medal on home waters. Tony did his bit in Singapore, so now Hannah has her chance to win that gold!
The benefits to sailing should spin off well beyond the Olympics themselves. The RYA is in the process of launching its new scheme to get more people involved in the sport, called On Board. As RYA racing manager John Derbyshire points out, you couldn't ask for a better time for the Olympic announcement to come along, just as they're getting this project off the ground, working closely with local education authorities.
Rod Carr says the 2012 Games will drive more local money into sport. "There are three primary sources of funding for sport in this country, the Lottery, sponsorship and local funding. A lot more money comes from local authorities than the Lottery, it is a very significant amount. For councils weighing up different priorities on their agenda, where sport is just one of those priorities, getting this decision can only improve sport's chances of getting more money."
This is great news for developing the grass roots of the sport, ‘building the base of the pyramid', as they say in sports development parlance. But it doesn't necessarily mean more money for our Olympic-level sailors. With people spending less money on Wednesday- and Saturday-night Lottery tickets, the RYA's Olympic budget will inevitably dwindle unless the funds come from other sources. Rod is confident the Government will conjure up the cash from somewhere: "Gordon Brown has got to give more money from the Exchequer, more money for the Elite end."
I'm sure Rod is right. Every host nation wants to make sure it acquits itself well on home turf, and water. Do you remember how long the Greeks had to wait for their first gold medal to materialise during Athens last year, and what a national sigh of relief there was when the first one arrived? Whichever government is in power seven years from now, you can be sure it will want to win as many medals as possible, and compared with the massive building and infrastructure that will be going on in East London, the handouts to national sporting authorities like the RYA will be chickenfeed.
Rod says sport is very much in favour with all three political parties now, and says we've never had a prime minister who has grasped the value of sport as well as Tony Blair. I always thought John Major deserved credit for kickstarting the National Lottery in the first place, but Maggie Thatcher was a disaster where sport was concerned, selling off playing fields and reducing the significance of sport on the curriculum. In the current political climate, however, Rod believes sport is very much in the ascendancy, and he cites three very different reasons:
- Winning - building a sense of national pride. This is all about the Olympics and the elite end of sport.
- Health - the growing problem of obesity means it makes pure economic sense to get the population playing more sport.
- Sport for good - it improves social cohesion, and is one of the best ways of bringing communities closer together. In the light of the London bombings, there has never been a better case for promoting sport at a wider level.
But Rod says this is another tide that is on the turn. "After the Lyme Bay disaster, we've created such a risk-averse environment among teachers and the education service, to the point now where we have the prime minister and other commentators saying that if we continue being so litigious and risk averse, where do we find the scout leaders and teachers of the future?" Rod says there is a new wave of legislation being planned which will make sure teachers aren't exposed to genuine acts of god. If this happens, then perhaps sailing will become more accessible and attractive to kids and their parents.
Back to the Olympics 2012, and it is clear the decision will have a huge effect on Weymouth and Portland. The ISAF Youth Worlds are to be hosted here in 2006, and no doubt many nations will use the trip as a convenient opportunity to scout the area. John Derbyshire says the RYA is also looking to host an ISAF Grade 2 event there from next September onwards. This would herald a welcome return for Weymouth Olympic Week. Younger readers may not remember this event, but Britain used to host its own annual Olympic competition as part of the European circuit of events, of which Hyeres, Kiel and the Holland Regatta are currently considered the Big Three. Former Rolltacks columnist Rob Andrews has been appointed the RYA's competitions manager, whose job it will be to study the feasibility of hosting an event in Weymouth. The idea has a lot going for it:
- Overseas teams will be keen to learn the waters over the next few years in the build-up to 2012.
- Overseas teams have long wanted to know the magic ingredients of Team GBR's success, so an annual visit to Weymouth will provide them with an opportunity to see where it all happens.
- The Olympic calendar tends to finish quite early in the year. Hyeres, the Holland Regatta and Kiel Week all take place between April and June, so an annual event in September could help fill a lean end-of-season calendar for the Olympic circuit.
Given all those factors, it would be quite possible to imagine a rejuvenated Weymouth Olympic Week being granted Grade 1 status within a few years. The other benefit of the Games is that the already impressive new sailing centre just constructed will now be enhanced and extended to accommodate the sailors, organisers and their boats in 2012. Additional launching ramps will be built, more buildings constructed and a marina will be developed. John Derbyshire believes it will provide a useful, lasting legacy: "Sydney was a fantastic Games, but the regatta was held out of a tented village and three months later you'd never have known that anything had happened there. The Athens marina was too big for the Games, so it lost some of the atmosphere. Weymouth will make for a well-contained and intimate Games, and we will have a legacy that we can afford to run when the Games are finished."
Whereas Athens sent competitors out to the same course area each day, John says the plan for Weymouth is to do as they did in Sydney, and rotate the different fleets across four course areas - one inside Portland Harbour and three outside in Weymouth Bay. This method ensures the sailors will be tested in a range of conditions, from the flat water of the Harbour to the tidal and wavy conditions of the Bay. John believes this rotation system will challenge the versatility of the sailors and award gold to those most deserving of the title of Olympic Champion.
