Sailing at the Olympic Games was held in front of a huge spectator crowd at Weymouth Bay this month. (Photo courtesy of US Sailing)
As the 2012 Olympic Games, where the US Sailing team was represented by Laser racer Rob Crane, 26 of Darien, came to a close in Weymouth and Portland, England, the team shut up shop and headed to London over the weekend to spend the evening with their Team USA teammates before celebrating at Sunday’s Closing Ceremony.
That’s when Sailing Team Leader Dean Brenner spoke about the 2012 Olympic Games.
“We arrived here in mid-July as a team,” said Brenner. “We went to the Opening Ceremony as a team, we’re packing up our containers as a team and we are going to the Closing Ceremony and then home as a team. The closing ceremony is going to be a great final step in this journey that we’ve all taken.
“The process to becoming a 2012 Olympian is a lifetime commitment, solidified over the past four years of training. Getting to the Olympic Games requires enormous commitment. It requires great character, an immense amount of hard work.
“It starts with the decision ‘do you want to be an Olympian and are you willing to do what is required?’”
Performance at the Games has come under scrutiny in the past few days, and Brenner explained that review and analysis come with any professional sports team.
Crane came in 29th overall.
He wrote on his blog on Aug. 9: “Well, my event is over. I finished 29th out of 49 boats. Not the result I was looking for. Now I am in London taking in some other Olympic events and enjoying the experience.
“Once I get home I will think about the event a bit and write a blog wrapping it up. Today I am going to cheer on the US Women’s Soccer Team in their Gold medal match.”
Crane can be followed at robcraneracing.com, where he has chronicled his 16 days competing at the Olympics.
“There are a lot of opinions about how the 2012 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team has done and with good reason,” said Brenner. “People care about this team and a lot of people take pride in this team.
“We’ve made it easier over the years to follow the team and that’s worked because people are paying attention.
“The team didn’t do well. We all know that. “The results weren’t what we wanted and what others were hoping for, which means there is a lot of opinion out there of what we should be doing, what we should be thinking about, what we did right and not right.
“I think it’s important to keep in mind a few things. A lot of things were done well and this team did a lot of things really well. We made a lot of progress this quad and these results don’t change that, and that progress is quantifiable in many ways.
“The other thing to keep in mind is the sailors themselves aren’t satisfied, and I think you’ll see a lot of them back for 2016. We’re going to take a really hard look in the mirror as a program, staff and athletes, and anyone who isn’t pleased with our performance should realize that neither are we, neither are the 16 athletes who were here.
“They’re going to take a look in the mirror and figure out what they can do better, whether they come back or not.”
Once the Olympic flame is extinguished at Olympic Park, in London, every member of the Team will take with them the memories and pride of representing the United States of American, and then return home as Olympians.
Final USA Sailing standings:
12th, Finn (Men’s One Person Dinghy Heavy), Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.)
29th, Laser, Rob Crane (Darien, Conn.)
20th, Women’s RS:X Windsurfing, Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.)
22nd, RS:X Windsurfing, Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.)
7th, Star (Men’s Keelboat), Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (both Miami, Fla.)
8th, Laser Radial, Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.)
15th, 49er, Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (Naples, Fla./N. Pomfret, Vt.)
14th, Men’s 470, Stuart McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.)
9th, Women’s 470, Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
5th, Women’s Match Racing, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.)
**BFD is black flag penalty
About the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team
The U.S. Olympic Sailing Team is managed by the United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for the sport of sailing and sailboat racing.
Athletes in each Olympic class were selected to the Team based on performance at two selection events. US Sailing has a proud history in the sport, collecting 59 medals since sailing was first included in the Games in 1900.
The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for sailing, provides leadership, integrity, and growth for the sport in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit us at ussailing.org.
