Olympic Quest of Victory and Failure

The Olympic Trials attract many types of sailors; those who are ready to fight for the gold, those who are almost ready, those who have just begun the journey; and then, those who take it as a personal challenge do the best that they can, all the while having the time of their lives. As stated in the Olympic Creed; "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." To all the sailors, participants, competitors, families, friends, volunteers, and those of you have touched our lives along the way CONGRATULATIONS, and THANK YOU for allowing us to chase our dreams and make this journey possible.

Yesterday, eleven Olympic sailing classes concluded their Olympic Trials with each class having one "winner" who will have the honor and the incredible challenge of representing the United States of America in the 2008 Olympic Games. On October 3, thirteen RSX Windsurfers, six women and seven men, came to Long Beach, CA to participate in the Olympic Trials. Each of us had dreams, hopes, and prayers of what would happen over the next twelve days. No one had any idea that the competition would be too close to call even on the last day, or the last race. Or that after all the racing was done, we would all be sitting there waiting and waiting for the results of several protests. The emotions ran from clear happiness, joy, accomplishment, pride to heartbreak, anger, and disappointment as we waited; and then saw the overwhelming emotional responses of the competitors from the final results.

In the final race for the women's fleet, the number one spot was in contention between Nancy Rios and Farrah Hall. Nancy had to come in second or third to secure her spot as our next Olympic hopeful. The wind was up which favors Farrah's height, weight, and expertise. Whereas Nancy is a master of light wind, who many believe is the ideal candidate for China's conditions with 2 knots of wind and 2 knots of current expected.

Our class flag is up, 5 minutes to the start and every one is on edge, this is it. 5, 4...1...Go! Monica started port thinking that she would be lifted and would be able to sail across and ahead of the rest of the fleet. The rest of us started on starboard with the right of way, headed right towards her in planing conditions. The gap keeps narrowing, Monica keeps going, screams of protest of right away, and then the crashes and falls. Farrah halts but is able to keep going. Nancy's sail is entangled with Monica's but somehow she does not fall. Nancy's sail was torn, but she had to keep going to fight for her spot. Lisa who is right behind, falls to avoid the crash and I stopped planing but was able to duck under. Only Karen was able to escape but was slowed by amazement of what just unfolded. The Finish line: 1)Farrah, 2)Karen, 3)Lisa 4)Nancy .....on the scoreboard without protests, Farrah is one point ahead of Nancy and maybe is the one going to the Olympics. Then there was celebration and tears....

Farrah believed she was going, and Nancy's world collapsed around her as she filed a protest. In the world of sailing rules, if something happens to a sailor or a sailor's rig that was not her fault, giving the sailor an unfair disadvantage throughout the race, she can protest and receive a redress. A redress implies that instead of taking the place the sailor earned in that race her score will be changed to the average of all her races. This would change Nancy score to second place, giving her the Olympic spot. Then we waited as our hearts went out to both competitors ...who like all of us took a journey to get here filled with sacrifices, joys, disappointments, tears, hopes, and dreams. Who could have imagined the end would be determined in a boardroom. We waited.....

One of many challenges of competition is knowing how to win and how to lose. As stated in the Olympic creed, it is not only triumph that defines your life, but how you choose to handle disappointments and failure. The real challenge in life is to handle both success and failure with grace and to respect each as part of the journey. As we waited we knew both women would have huge challenges ahead of them. Then the results....tears turned to tears of joy and celebration turned to heartbreak. Nancy had won. Farrah was in second place.

Then the boys..... as the saying goes "boys will be boys." The Dogfight between Gebi and Ben both on and off the water throughout the Olympic Trials should go down as one of the most insane and intense fights. They both came to fight and came to win. Each day one would think that the intensity and the stakes could not get any higher but then the inevitable would happen once again. We all watched in amazement. The number of protest were unbelievable, and I would not be surprised if more protests are still being filed. As you can imagine, we all have a story but each with a different perspective. Overall, each man gave it their all, and tried their best but only one goes....that man is Ben!Congratulations to both Ben and Nancy! And congratulations to everyone who participated. It has been an incredible event with many surprises, laughs, and tears. For many of us it is only the beginning of the journey, and for all of us it will forever be a part of our lives. Congratulations to all of the RSX competitors: Nancy, Farrah, Monica, Lisa, Karen, Ben, Gebi, Bob, Jimmy, Ryan, Mark and Eric. It has been an honor to be here. I'm proud of each and every one of you. Thank you.

Final Regatta Results

Thank you to all of you that have followed along the journey. I hope to keep you posted on the continued journey for the 2008 Olympics. The women still have to earn a spot at the Olympics. A lot of the girls plan to train with Nancy and push her to be the best she can be. One woman has to qualify the U.S. for the 2008 Games at the Worlds this January in New Zealand in order to provide Nancy with opportunity that she has earned here. We all know she can do it. There is still a lot training and hard work ahead for all of us. Then, there is the question of the 2012 Olympic Games...
Thank you for your support. Keep checking the blog out for more of the journey to come....

Denise Parris, USA 235