{"id":2530,"date":"2024-06-28T14:36:50","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T14:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2024-06-28T14:36:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T14:36:50","slug":"2530","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/?p=2530","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe want Great Britain to win top nation again\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve been sprinting ever since Tokyo, because of the compressed Olympic cycle since Tokyo 2020,\u201d says RYA Performance Director, Mark Robinson. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s the same for every nation, but there hasn\u2019t been the usual year for resting and resetting, which is typically what people do in the year after a Games. We just had to get straight back into it.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s especially fast-paced because four of the ten events are new to the Olympic circuit. Not only that, but men\u2019s and women\u2019s events in foiling kiteboarding and foiling windsurfing both run brutal Medal Series formats which place enormous emphasis on performing on the final day. Sailors used to be able to put together a consistent series across the whole regatta. Now sailing joins sports such as running and swimming in deciding the medals in a sudden death final.\u201d\u00a0 Robinson acknowledges that sailing has some significant differences that might well warrant the traditional model of rewarding a consistent performance across the week. \u201cIn sailing we\u2019re working with a dynamic field of play where all kinds of factors \u2013 variable wind, waves, weather \u2013 can all heavily influence the outcome. But we\u2019re in the Olympics and this is the way televised sport is going, so we\u2019ve had to make sure our athletes are mentally prepared for these final-day formats.\u201d\u00a0 While much about the equipment and setup has changed since Tokyo, the medal target agreed with UK Sport remains three to five medals of any colour. \u201cI think it\u2019s very achievable,\u201d says Robinson. \u201cWe\u2019ve got good medal prospects across quite a few of the classes but, of course, we want Great Britain to win top nation again. And for that we\u2019ll probably need some golds, and that\u2019s the goal we set for ourselves at every Games.\u201d\u00a0 The team within the team\u00a0 It\u2019s sometimes said that, where athletes in other sports achieve personal bests and world-record times at the Olympic Games, in sailing competitors often perform below their best. Luckily the British Sailing Team has tended to buck this trend, nearly always rising to the big occasion. Of course, it\u2019s not really luck at all, but part of the design of the team\u2019s structure.\u00a0\u00a0 A big part of Team GB\u2019s success is the support staff working behind the scenes, helping to bring out the best of our sailors. It\u2019s also the camaraderie between the whole team. Once a sailor has finished their Olympic regatta, they stay to support to everyone else, all the way to the closing ceremony.\u00a0\u00a0 Kate Eddy, Head of Performance Support, is a member of this highly experienced team. She\u2019s a strength and conditioning coach and biomechanist approaching her eighth Olympic and Paralympic Games, and has worked at the top level in a range of men\u2019s and women\u2019s sports. \u201cI\u2019m a surfer in my spare time, so I\u2019ve got an interest in the sea and find sailing absolutely fascinating,\u201d says Eddy.\u00a0 \u201cCompared with most sports, where the athletes are operating in a more controlled, predictable environment, sailors have to cope with such a random and ever-changing field of play. It\u2019s incredible how they manage such a complex scenario.\u201d\u00a0 Eddy says the focus is on ensuring the sailors are prepared physically and mentally. \u201cThe challenge of the new board sports is the high speeds and potential for crashing, so we\u2019ve worked closely on injury prevention,\u201d says Eddy. \u201cBut the other side is the sudden-death nature of their finals, and to make sure they are in the right mindset to perform in that critical moment.\u201d\u00a0 Find out more\u00a0 The Olympic sailing events will take place from 28 July to 8 August and will be aired on Discovery+.\u00a0\u00a0 For more information about the Games, our team of 14 British sailors and windsurfers, the Olympic sailing classes and all the latest news, visit our Paris 2024 hub.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe want Great Britain to win top nation again\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve been sprinting ever since Tokyo, because of the compressed Olympic cycle since Tokyo 2020,\u201d says RYA Performance Director, Mark Robinson. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s the same for every nation, but there … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531,"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marlow-ropes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}