It’s only Day One

There’s an old saying in sailing that you can’t win the regatta on the first day, but you can lose it.

After a nerve-jangling first day on the water for the teams in the Men’s and Women’s Skiffs, their coaches will be keen to remind their sailors that however the opening Sunday went for them, there’s still plenty of racing to go.

After they step ashore, one of the unique aspects of the Games is the sailors are obliged to walk through the Mixed Zone. It’s a narrow corridor of barriers, on the other side of which are ranked the TV stations, newspaper reporters, social media and bloggers. It can be an intimidating part of the day, but it can also be quite revealing.

After the first day of racing in Tokyo three years ago, some sailors marched through the Mixed Zone with a face like thunder. After a crushing set of opening scores, it was clear that some sailors had already mentally checked out of the competition. In their minds they had already lost the regatta on day one.

Then there are others who refuse to accept defeat on the first day. Already a silver and gold medallist from the previous two Games, Marit Bouwmeester came to Tokyo with high expectations, but the Dutch sailor had a horrible first day in the Women’s Dinghy. However she rallied for the rest of the regatta and bounced back to take her third Olympic medal, a bronze.

A similar story for Matt Wearn in Tokyo, the Australian favourite for Olympic gold in the men’s dinghy, suffered equipment failure on day one which left him with a mountain to climb. Wearn dug in, hiked hard and surfed his way back into the overall lead of the competition, securing the gold before the Medal Race was even run.

It’s this kind of redemption story that today’s strugglers will need to remind themselves of. It’s only just begun, there’s a long way to go, keep on pushing, keeping on grinding for every centimetre of advantage on the race course.

written by Andy Rice