Dear Olympic Sailors

Suellen Hurling, creator of the Australian LiveSailDie.com website, offers this tribute to the men and women who will be competing in the ten sailing events at the Rio Olympic Games….

I’m sure most of you will have now signed out of your social media accounts and turned off the news to ensure you can focus on the job at hand, winning a medal for your country. But just in case you are still lurking in the background, I just wanted to wish you all the best of luck.

At this point the most important thing for you to do is to ignore all the negatively surrounding the sailing waters, the collapsed ramp, zika virus, raw sewage and body parts. Us media type people are all the same. We will post the stories that will gain momentum, and sadly the worst stories are always the best. But I wanted to put all that aside for moment, and look beyond the headline.

Congratulations for making it this far and for not letting those obvious obstacles interfere with your regatta, however I really hope that a detached arm doesn’t hinder a gold medal race for anyone!

The world will be watching you via TV networks, websites, apps and live from the sailing venue itself. Impressionable eyes young and old will be hanging on your every tack, gybe and potential capsize, so whatever you do, just keep your mouth closed and avoid sipping the murky waters that will float you to potential race wins.

I will never be the level that you’re at, and I just want to say how much I respect each and every one of you for reaching the pinnacle event of your careers. So many people aspire to be where you are, myself included, and the admiration held for you is immense.

It’s great to see that there was no massive boycott of the event because of the unsanitary conditions. A lot of mainstream people won’t understand why you are following through with the competition, but they probably just don’t understand, respect or appreciate just how tough the sport is anyway. The bad things are just part of the new venue recipe and what will ultimately separate the best from the greatest.

Thank you to all of you for being role models to the next generation of aspiring Olympians. Thank you for making sailing awesome, but most of all, thank you for taking up the sport in the first place!

Sailing is the best sport in the world, and every four years, we get to show it off at the Olympic Games. I can’t wait to see what happens and witness history being made.

Now shut up and send it, ride it like you stole it, and have an amazing time!

How to follow the Olympics… click here.