Gladwell's Line - Strong team but is Yachting's policy too extreme?

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 14 Mar 2016 On Monday morning the New Zealand Olympic Committee announced a team of ten sailors to compete in five events at the 2016 Olympic Sailing Regatta.

The team comprises of two 2012 Olympic medal-winning crews.

It also contains three crews who have won world championships in the current Olympic cycle.

Six of the team have competed at past Olympics - that statistic is probably the most important in picking Medal performance, as it is very unusual for a sailor to medal in their first Olympics. All but one of the crews feature a past Olympian.

Two of the crews have been ISAF Sailors of the Year in the current Olympic cycle.

With that pedigree, the team largely picked itself as any strong team should do.

That is why our preview story, published two days ahead of the announcement, was so easy to write.

Today’s announcement was rather predictable, due to the record of the crews - with the Men's 470 hauling themselves over the selection line with a Silver medal in the 2016 World Championships.

The next announcements will not be quite so easy, with two competitors very much in the viewfinder in two classes, and three who are currently outside, to varying degrees, the NZ selection criteria of being medal capable in Rio de Janeiro next August.

Much has been made in the media over the past week of the funding available in particular for the Windsurfer classes.

It was not so long ago that Windsurfing was the mainstay of the New Zealand Olympic Medal performance.

That era lasted from 1984 until 2004 when the New Zealand Yachting Team returned medal-less - triggering a funding stop (save for some leftover budget from the 2004 cycle).

At one of many difficult meetings in the following nine months, the question was asked why Yachting should continue to receive funding for other than Windsurfing when the sport had not won a medal in any of the mono hull or multihull classes for three Olympic regattas and had not won a Gold medal since 1992?

The point is that Olympic talent comes and goes.

Had the 2004 funding mandarins had their way, New Zealand sailing would probably not have been in the position we enjoy today.

The other eight Olympic events which had been medal-less for 12 years would have been chopped in favour of a more cost-effective model involving Windsurfing only. Remember that funding a mens and womens windsurfer costs about the same as a single 470, 49er or Nacra 17 crew - maybe less.

At the 2008 Olympics, it was the Windsurfer that saved Yachting New Zealand’s bacon once again with a Gold Medal to second time Olympian Tom Ashley.

A bit of shifty footwork by the then CEO of Yachting NZ persuading the funders that the target of two medals was saved by using a points system which had a Gold at four points, a Silver at 2pts and a Bronze at 1pt. One Gold equalled two Bronze - and the funders swallowed that line.

In the 2008 Olympics, New Zealand was not represented in four of the 11 classes. Two classes were not sent on the basis of a demonstrated light weather ability in the selection criteria. That was a mistake in what proved to be the windiest Olympics in 20 years.

Another two classes in which New Zealand did not compete in Qingdao were the Men's 49er and the Women's 470 – the very two classes on which New Zealand is now hanging its two Medal hat in 2016 and which yielded New Zealand’s only medals in 2012.

As we noted above Olympic talent comes and goes. Nothing is forever.

In the planning for the 2012 Olympic regatta, one of the criteria set in 2008 was to qualify New Zealand in all ten events in the first round of qualification in 2010.

The reason for this was simple – it gave certainty to all as to funding and selection and meant planning could proceed for a full team in 2012.

That same milestone was in place for the current Olympic cycle – and was achieved again in 2014.

But now it seems that memories have shortened, the lessons of that hard year in 2004 seem to have been forgotten – and it is the overall team performance which must be looked at in a much wider context, rather than just the narrow band of the current Olympic cycle.

For new Olympic entrants is the crucial regatta is the World Championship immediately following the Olympic regatta. That is their opportunity to show Yachting NZ and its funders that they are worth the investment for the Olympic Qualification Regatta the following year.

But if sailors are not going to be selected - even in classes in which New Zealand has qualified two years ahead of the Olympics - why would a young sailor pursue an Olympic path ahead of the many professional opportunities available in the sport for New Zealand sailors?

Ironically while Rowing is sending 31 rowers to Rio 2016, theer are a further 15 rowers who have yet to qualify in the final qualification regatta in May 2016 - the so-called 'Regatta of Death'. Yet Yachting NZ seems to be close to not sending competitors events in which Kiwi sailors had qualified in 2014? Against that Rowing backdrop why are we worrying about sending competitors in yachting events for which we have already qualified??

That is not a consistent approach.

Part of the changes that came in post-2008 was to stop NZ competitors using second rounds of qualifying for Olympic regattas and then mounting late Olympic campaigns in a flurry of sympathetic publicity based on performances in previous Olympic cycles.

The analysis over an extended period showed that only a small percentage of competitors won medals who had qualified in other than the first round of qualification. Even when there were three qualification rounds in the lead up to 2008, something like 70% of the medal winners came from the first round, 25% in the second and 5% (or one of 33 medals) came from the final round.

It follows that if you are going to knock the late qualifiers out, you have to fund fairly those who have played the game and qualified in the first round, two years ahead of the Olympics.

Quite what happens from here remains to be seen. Wise heads should prevail – but the matter is probably too far gone.

If we are going to not send classes in which New Zealand has qualified, then in terms of blame, then questions must be asked of the Board of Yachting New Zealand. It is their role to have oversight for the long term direction of the sport. It has been the Board who has had to make the hard decisions in the past, and with the YNZ Executive, have made some compelling arguments for continuance when there is some good talent coming through, even when the Olympic medal cabinet was looking rather bare.

Sure some people are difficult to deal with, but how many of our past medalists have been the meek and compliant types? The Kendalls, the Sellers are never a push-over. Even dear Helmer Pedersen, had to be allowed to do his own thing early in the 1964 Olympics - and once freed of the manager's dictates started turning in the performances necessary to win the Gold Medal. Dick Tonks exist in every sport - mostly at the top levels - because they are driven people focussed on success and not on process. They have to accommodated - difficult as that may be. That is a skill of good management.

While today’s Olympic situation is bright and sunny, the forecast if not so great for the next round in May, and it seems as if the lessons of the not too distant past have been forgotten.

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