America's Cup - Russell Coutts - 'Never give up'

by Russell Coutts/Daily Telegraph on 24 May 2017 Sir Russell Coutts, the current CEO of Oracle Team USA, has won the America’s Cup five times New Zealand-born Sir Russell Coutts skippered his nation to victory in the America’s Cup in 1995 and 2000 and Switzerland in 2003 before switching to a CEO’s role with Oracle Team USA and winning again in 2010 and 2013.

Now as chief executive of the America’s Cup Event Authority he has, along with Oracle’s Larry Ellison, been responsible for turning a niche event into a mainstream, premium sport.

It wasn’t a given that sailing would be my life. I was studying structural engineering when I entered the Olympics in 1984. It was a good interruption to win a medal [a gold in the Finn class sailing] but it was an interruption all the same, so by the time I graduated the 1987 crash had happened and there wasn’t a lot of work. It was my father’s suggestion to get involved with New Zealand’s America’s Cup bid in 1990. He thought it would only be for a few years, but it turned out to be a bit longer than that.

Dennis Conner was my inspiration

When I was growing up the America’s Cup and the sailing world was dominated by [four times winner] Dennis Conner. It was said he’d sail at least 320 days a year – his approach was to leave no stone unturned. He set the standard and was very much my inspiration. My other hero was the Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm. He won four Olympic Golds and I wasn’t alone in thinking his record would never be beaten. Then Ben Ainslie came along and won four golds and a silver.

I was lucky to be sailing during the era that the America’s Cup became professional. Now sailors and the shore crew get paid properly but before 1990 the best anyone could hope for was a food allowance. It was an amateur competition and only really became fully professional in 1995.

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