Decision 2018: The Voice of Club Sailing on the Olympic petition
by Sail-World.com/nz 12 May 2018 01:47 PDT
12 May 2018
The letter that started it all - a double page spread in the authorative Seahorse magazine from six Olympic Medalists and Medal Maker © Seahorse
Ben Nicholls, the originator of the Save Olympic Sailing (SOS) petition calling for a time-out on the 2024 Olympic Events and Equipment decision, talks with Andy Rice of SailJuice as to why he started the petition, what happened next and gives his perspective on the state of the sport.
Ben is very well reasoned and eloquent, and is the voice of club sailing - where most of us sit or relate to the sport.
The decisions being made this week, and later in the year - while ostensibly affecting Olympic Sailing are not just a trickle down, but are a waterfall on the rest of the sport - particularly young dinghy sailors and the direction their sailing careers will take. And depending on where you live there are plenty of options other than running off and joining the five ring circus.
Ben's also seen both side of the sailing coin - with a sailing career that has touched on an Olympic campaign himself and now sees his children traveling the same but different pathways.
When listening to this audio there is a significant point to remember:
Last June, the International Olympic Committee made the statement (reported in Sail-World only yesterday) that Sailing, as an Olympic sport met the Agenda2020 requirements for Gender Equality. For reasons best known to themselves World Sailing has stuck to the party line that Sailing still has serious work to be done in this area.
To be charitable we'll say that they got so engrossed in the America's Cup, that they - like us - missed the announcement. However the flip side of that is that World Sailing employees are paid to be on top of this key information, and to correct where necessary. We in the Fourth Estate, less so.
Click on the "Read More" button above to see the petition and show your support