Dateline Rio - Sailing Olympics review - as good as it gets?

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 26 Aug 2016 The Rio Sailing Olympics was widely judged to have been the best of recent times.

The weather was better than Weymouth and Qingdao, the courses more varied, from a working media perspective, it was the people running the Rio regatta who really made the difference.

Qingdao was a case of not really thinking – just do as you were told. Getting a process changed was like trying to turn the Titanic. Weymouth was like going back to school, with frequent lectures from the Headmaster. The Prefects were everywhere – ashore and afloat.

Rio was much more casual. There had been no media involvement – outside some of the teams – at the Test Events, so everyone was feeling their way for the first few days.

For sure there were some frustrations with the accreditation process (your scribe had to get processed three times to get an ID that would work), getting information before the event and other issues which would have been resolved in a Test Event. But at least the 45-minute bus ride to the main media centre was pleasant enough, reports of 4-6 hours sorting through bureaucracy layers were not uncommon.

The Media Centre itself was run entirely by women, with most speaking some form of English and many being very fluent. This created an interesting dynamic with the largely male media pack. Factor in the fact that it was the first meeting of these two forces – there being no Test Event – and things were very delicately poised.

Yes, the first two days were not easy, but no more difficult than Qingdao or Weymouth.

The big difference in Rio came on the second day when the Media Centre manager started approaching various groups of media and asking what they could do to improve the regatta.

This was an amazing development in a world where the print and web media are regarded as the paparazzi – there to be beaten and whipped into the shape dictated by numerous pre-regatta meetings and defined processes and regularly admonished and threatened in daily lectures from the Head Boy.

The Media Centre manager was staggered to hear that she was opening the communication lines in a way had never been done, in the past eight years, at least. Her initiative created a level of understanding and suggestions which made everyone’s life a lot easier and defused situations often before they developed and got out of hand.

Of course there were the usual contretemps between the television boats, and the media/photography boats. But what do they expect when there are layers of privilege flag holders and those with the highest privilege move into position late, and block the shots of the photographers who have been in position for the past 5-10 minutes?

Of course the blocked boats are going to move ahead to clear their position. This issue has been around for the past three Olympics, at least. And it has never been successfully addressed. It just causes a lot of aggro on the water, and then later when the photographers get blamed for causing the shemozzle.

Again Rio was much better in this regard than Weymouth (easily the worst) and Qingdao (layers of confusion).

The Brazilian approach to event organisation was also more laid back than the norm. Generally, the key things got done and on time – it was just that in the Brazilian way they didn’t make a lot of noise about it.

Lars Grael, the now one-legged twice Olympic Bronze medallist, was a frequent sight in the sailing venue and media centre, talking with people and just having someone of his status and capability visible on site, and running his eye over what was happening (or not) was a real comfort factor. Of course being a Grael, you knew he had a hotline to God, in Rio at least.

Slick on the water
On the water the racing was run by a team imposed by World Sailing. Aside from the use of the “U” flag which was an unnecessary regatta killer for too many competitors, the race management seemed to be very efficient, slick and fair – despite some real challenges imposed by the course areas and weather conditions.

For the uninitiated, the “U” flag replaced the better known Black Flag for race starts in fleets of more than ten boats. It seems that this is the practice with World Cup events. However, the Olympics is a level above a World Cup regatta, and a more benign approach should have been employed.

While there is not an issue with using a U or Black Flag for an unruly fleet, applying the U Flag at the first start of a race is not fair on the sailors. Its effect is to wreck an Olympic regatta for a sailor who gets caught on the wrong side of the line in one race. Disqualification from the race for a premature start is too harsh a penalty, and a return and restart or a 720 turn penalty is more reasonable.

In one race for the 470 Men and Women six crews - three in each fleet were pinged under the U Flag. That's six Olympic campaigns that got thrown under the bus, for an issue that probably had more to do with the way the start line was set in those conditions.

Further, in a sport in which TV requires that an on the water finish being the actual finish result, pulling competitors at the end of a race for a start line infringement is not consistent with this “finish line place/final result” objective.

Allowing the premature starters to stay in the race and affect other legal finishers is also a contentious call – saved only by the fact that after a redress claim it may be found that the Race Committee had made an error in their original start line call.

Testing conditions reward top sailors
Rio was the most challenging regatta in terms of weather for both sailors and officials – fickle breezes – rapidly increasing winds – mountainous seas – the lot - and able to shift extremes within minutes at times. Add into that a swirling current in Guanabara Bay, and a different tidal dynamic offshore and Rio was a venue where no two days were the same. You had to have your head out of the boat, and be sailing your own race - which is the way it should be.

The conditions of the second day of 470 Racing on the Copacabana Course were reckoned to have been the wildest experienced in an Olympic regatta – according to one veteran of 12 Olympics and echoed by those of lesser experience.

The variance in conditions asked some serious questions of the sailors and explained in part why some were able to effect recoveries on the points table. On the other hand, in three of the ten events sailors were able to build up margins of more than 20 points ahead of the Medal Race – making it of academic interest only.

While Rio provided a real test for race officials, it was also a venue that rewarded versatile sailors and those who could manage a series. So often in the Mixed Zone, we heard the same catch cry from the top sailors, who had a bad day – “just need to focus on what we have to do to win the next race.” No thought of the big picture – just the immediate focus of the next race.

The Grael factor
New Zealand was unlucky not to return with three Gold medals. The U-flag penalty on the Women's 470 crew of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie was a very harsh race management call, and one which killed several Olympic campaigns.

What was probably not seen on the gaze of the TV camera ahead of the start of the Women's 49erFX Medal race, was the sight of the Brazilian crew of Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze talking for a long time with five times Olympic medallist Torben Grael as they all studied the nuances of the Guanabara Bay race course, and devised a plan for the race.

That 49erFX Medal Race was the only one where the Medals would be decided by the actual finishing order, with four boats all covered by a single point. Before the race, there was clearly some very serious application of brainpower within the Brazilian team. No-one should have known the course and options better than the Graels. So it was real surprise to see the New Zealanders lead the second generation of the Grael sailing dynasty for two and a half laps of the three lap course – only losing the lead in a wind shift at the top of the course.

In any other environment, it is a fair bet that the Kiwis would have won, and their performance must be seen in that light.

Even so, the Brazilian Gold Medal win in the final race of the Olympic Regatta capped off a great race and great event. No longer will sailing be called boring.

For all its shortcomings, it is hard to argue with the Medal Race concept when it produces sizzling races, with all the Medals on the finish line - like the Finals of other sports.

Now for Tokyo
With the 2016 Regatta now over the thinking now shifts to Tokyo 2020, with sailing one of six sports under review by the International Olympic Committee. To date, Sailing has been able to survive by its in-house analysis – with the Phil Jones led Olympic Commission of 2010 providing a blueprint for part of the 2012 Olympics, but mostly the 2016 Regatta. Very little of what was in that 2010 report was not implemented for 2016. Now apparently a re-charge is required.

Ahead of the numbers being collated and published, it is hard to see that a lot can change without seriously compromising the sailing competition. Rio was close to being as good as it gets.

Rio provided a rare chance for Sailing to be part of the mainstream Olympics, and being in the same City meant that it could be judged on the same basis as other sports and with the benefit of the Olympic joie de vivre that grips a host city.

Not that Rio was particularly gripped by the Olympics. These were a Games based around a single City and not a country. The disparity between rich and poor in Rio is huge. The favelas look cute in photos. Seen first hand they are disturbing in their extent and poverty. It is easy to understand the ambivalence and outright hostility to the Olympic expenditure by the poor and their activists.

Olympic indifference
Budget cuts seemed to translate into a lack of banners and the other decoration that is a normal part of an Olympic venue. Aside from the increased military presence and security, there was little to indicate that an Olympics was underway. Little was seen of Olympic decoration on our 10-minute daily taxi ride around the bay.

I stayed in a quaint Brazilian suburb, Botafogo, which didn’t seem to give a hoot about the Olympics. The only visible sign that an Olympics was underway was on the televisions playing in some pizza cafés. The body language of the patrons made their view of the Olympics clear – most had their backs turned to the TV – even when Usain Bolt was competing. The Men’s Basketball did attract some animated attention one night – when the USA played Australia – and the locals all rooted for Australia.

But we digress. That is the backdrop against what sailing will be measured compared to other sports when the IOC does its accounting.

Problematic changes for 2020
Much has been made over the past three Olympiads of the Stadium course, and the Medal race.

With the Medal Race pulled away as far as possible from the Sugarloaf at the southern end of Guanabara Bay, it is hard to imagine a more idyllic setting for a sailing stadium event.

White sand beaches – spectacular backdrops behind – crowds on the beach (as it proved within swimming distance of the competitors) - big screens and live commentary of what could be easily seen on the water. Crews sailed past the cheering spectators after the Medal race – and in some cases hauling out amongst the fans at the end of the race.

It is hard to imagine a better setting for a regatta finale.

The downside was that the wind refused to co-operate on two of the days – meaning that the RS:X Windsurfers got away with the planned two Medal races on one of the five days, and the other two days of Medal races were staged with four events being decided on each day. Two days of racing were lost because of a late or no wind.

But racing or not, it was a great environment for stadium sailing, and a great day for the local fans, of whom there were many.

Contrast that with the sight of empty seats in other sporting venues, and the reported undersell of tickets, and the IOC accounting will be interesting.

The only real changes that can be expected arise from the IOC’s believed requirement for gender equality in terms of numbers and events. Some sports have already achieved the numbers of participants. Sailing will probably have to add an extra event but stay within the 380 total competitors. The easy way to do this is to add a new Women's Singlehanded foiling boat – maybe a Waszp – or one design foiling Moth. This allows the retention of the Finn as a heavy men's singlehander – in an event card that favours lightweight Men.

The 20 places required for the new Women's event can easily come from the existing classes – which are over-subscribed, judging from the quota reallocations that took place two months before the 2016 Olympics.

The other change that has to come in lies within the Qualification System itself. In this regard Sailing has to fall in line with other sports, notably Rowing, where a National Authority has two weeks after an Olympic Qualification event to claim the place – otherwise, it gets offered and reallocated to the next placed country in the Qualifier.

There is no place for a system that allows a Qualification place to be put on ice for almost two years before a country decides whether they want to take it up, or not. At which point it gets offered to another country who could not justify running an Olympic program for an event in which they had not yet Qualified for the next Olympics.

That is not to prevent countries from practising a “Medal Capable” selection policy. But it does require that they have the courage of their convictions – and means that Olympic Qualification is on a “use it or lose it” basis.

This re-alignment of the Qualification process will mean that standards will lift in the fleets. It also means that the policies of countries whose goal it is to compete in the Olympics can be accommodated alongside those whose goal it is to win at the Olympics.

The other area of change will focus on the Kiteboard versus the Windsurfer. There is probably not room on the sailing Olympic calendar for both unless there is a dual equipment event with sailors sailing one-half of the regatta on a Windsurfer and the second half using Kites.

There is not guarantee that Kites will be any more successful than Windsurfing as an Olympic event. The reasons that exist now for the inclusion of Kites are just as compelling as they were in the early 1980’s for the introduction of Windsurfing.

Mixed Zone - Obligation or Opportunity?

Perhaps it was inevitable with the change of Olympic cycles and classes, however, Olympic Sailing is losing its characters.

Add to that the creeping malaise of sailors and their handlers who think that the post-race Mixed Zone is something to be passed through as quickly as possible, and where a Medallists’ Media Conference is something you attend if you don’t have a better offer from a domestic network, whose schedule clashes with the Media Conference.

The point that seems to be lost on the sailors and their media handlers is that a single journalist in a media mixed zone or a media conference, can be the sharp end of a media audience of many millions, and often across many countries.

It is these encounters where media opinions are formed as to who the stories are about, and from their editors as to who looks as if they would make an interesting feature at a later date.

Treating the media interface with print and online media as an obligation rather than an opportunity is a serious mistake made by many sailors. It is an error they will rue in the years to come as they seek external sponsorship having blown the chance at an Olympics to build their profile.

470 sailor Luke Patience (GBR) was an outstanding example of someone who understood the media and how to give a good witty, quotable answer to even the silliest most long-winded question from a reporter who clearly knew nothing about sailing. (Or even an experienced one whose mind had turned to mush). Others like Nathan Outteridge (AUS) were very good, and of course, Santiago Lange (ARG) was impressive.

It seems incredible, given the usually great Medalist’s Media Conferences in Qingdao and Weymouth that always had 100% attendance from the medal winners, that sometimes only one, often two and occasionally three medallists would turn up in the Sailing media centre, with the truants deferring to a national audience rather than an international one.

Stars are born as much in the Mixed Zone as on the Race Course. The two go hand in hand.

The loss of the Star class has also robbed the Olympics of some of its established and well-known competitors, along with the profile that the multiple medallists and Olympic veterans bring to a Mixed Zone and Medallist Media Conferences.

Pre-Olympics issues evaporate
Many of the issues that received so much publicity before the Olympic Regatta did not eventuate. No-one saw a mosquito. The water quality was not great, but a lot better than in the Test Events.

The major excitement (but missed by most) came first with the shooting and then blowing up of a bag, in the park opposite the sailing media centre, by a bomb disposal squad after the spectators for the Olympic Women's Marathon had departed.

None of the sailing media of our acquaintance got robbed, but everyone was very security conscious. Yes, there was a degree of price gouging in some areas, but if you lived with the locals, you lived very cheaply.

When the dust settles on the Rio Sailing Olympics and Paralympics, the thinking for 2020 will begin.

In reality, little needs to change, other than what has been highlighted above. What does need to change is that the people making the decisions need to take a leaf out of the Brazilian book, talk to the punters, listen to what is said and deliver without making a lot of noise about it.

Congratulations and a big thank you to those involved in the organisation of the Rio Sailing Olympics. You set a standard that will be hard to match - if ever.