Ben Ainslie’s Thought on Olympic Classes |
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Chew my RS ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 05 Oct 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 790 |
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Ben's opinion matters because: A. He is a triple (soon to be 4x) Olympic medalist. That gets him heard. B. He has more experience of Olympic campaigning than almost anyone else - therefore he speaks with experience. C. His brother-in-law is head of the ISAF. He has the ear of the top man. I'm not saying that his opinion should matter more than anyone else's, but you would be naive to think it didn't. If the ECB wanted opinion on how cricket should be organised, would they ask me or Michael Vaughan? |
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http://www.sailns14.org - The ultimate family raceboat now available in the UK
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DiscoBall ![]() Far too distracted from work ![]() Joined: 03 Jan 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 294 |
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I understand what you're saying - but that's the reason that olympic sailing is in its present pickle...
Sailing never starts with a 'what would be best for presenting the sport' clean sheet. There's always this baggage that those who competed and now administrate just want to minimise change. If the cycling (or any other olympic 'kit' sport) was run like sailing they'd all be riding Choppers with carbon handlebars... ![]() Ben certainly know more about olympic campaigning than anyone else, but that puts him on the inside of the goldfish bowl. It's not the best place to judge how the sport is presented - I'd take a guess he, like many athletes sensibly avoids reading/watching the media while competing?? |
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JimiQuik ![]() Groupie ![]() ![]() Joined: 08 May 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 49 |
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People in the sport like Charles Benedict Ainslie
![]() Where as people who aren't directly involved will have a better idea of what the public want to see. |
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k_kirk ![]() Posting king ![]() Joined: 09 May 06 Location: Japan Online Status: Offline Posts: 172 |
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Ok. I see your point and respectfully disagree A & B are reasons making his the singlehanded opinion to be counted on. There are many others with enormous successes behind their name as well so if all were corralled and queried for their opinions then yes perhaps the process would lead somewhere. C, I flat out refuse to believe. If the brother in law can't be trusted to make non-biased decisions and such track record can be observed by 3rd parties then perhaps he should be asked to resign. Head of an organization such as ISAF should be mature enough to avoid nepotism. Anyways. They are out there sweating and we are here arm-chair sailing & debating. At the end of the day what they do now counts so all the best to the sailors. |
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Chew my RS ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 05 Oct 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 790 |
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Quite so. good luck GBR.
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tack'ho ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 08 Feb 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1100 |
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Any multi national murkly funded organisation avoid bias and nepotism Ha ha ha.... Lets face it if the UN is anything to go by..... |
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I might be sailing it, but it's still sh**e!
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JimC ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6567 |
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As I understand it, the peformance you get from recumbent type cycles vastly exceeds that of the conventional style pushbike as used in the games, so that's really pretty much what they are doing... |
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Lukepiewalker ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 24 May 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1340 |
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Indeed. The cycling equipment rules are exceptionally restrictive.
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Ex-Finn GBR533 "Pie Hard"
Ex-National 12 3253 "Seawitch" Ex-National 12 2961 "Curved Air" Ex-Mirror 59096 "Voodoo Chile" |
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Chris 249 ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 10 May 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2041 |
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"Sailing never starts with a 'what would be best for presenting the sport'
clean sheet. There's always this baggage that those who competed and now administrate just want to minimise change." Sailing, in the UK, France and Australia anyway, is a much, much bigger sport than most of the more spectacular sports, and the more spectacular classes are pretty much the smallest group. Not many people want to sail them. End of story. If they don't inspire many current sailors to get into them, why would they inspire newbies? Can you tell us the location of any studies or surveys that show that people are turned off by sailing's current image? "Where as people who aren't directly involved will have a better idea of what the public want to see." How is that? How often does Olympic sailing come up when you are talking to the public, day to day? Does the subject of Olympic sailing come up more often to you and me than it does to Ainslie, who is probably talking daily to the media and at corporate events after he gives speeches? I have still never had a decent answer to this oft-asked question - if fast boats are the key to improving the popularity of sailing, why are they so much less popular all around the world, and why are they actually (in recent years) growing more slowly than slow boats? There was one Olympic class which was chosen by the sailors - the RSX. It is probably the most cursed bit of kit around (or it was when I was racing against it). Even many of those who chose it at the trials abused it later, because when they chose it they failed to take into account the difference between a fragile prototype and a durable product. So the sailors' record of choosing classes isn't all that hot. Edited by Chris 249 |
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Tornado_ALIVE ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 07 Nov 04 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 611 |
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When Ainslie is an expert in Multihull sailing, then I guess his opinion on that matter would be worth listening too. Don't think for a second his comments would not have a personal agenda behind it. If ISAF decide in the future to only have 1 x single handed dinghy and 1 x double handed dinghy and the fin looses out to the Laser, then I am sure he would not be happy about it. |
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