No silver bullet, No magic trick

Going into the final race at the London 2012 Olympics, Ireland’s Annalise Murphy was essentially tied with three others in the Women’s One Person Dinghy event. When the race was done, Murphy was the sailor left off the podium.

Murphy made amends at the Rio 2016 Olympics, winning a silver medal, and she is back again for Tokyo 2020 with her ‘all or nothing’ approach to success.

To meet her is to experience a small act of misdirection as the 31-year-old’s calm, polite and down-to-earth demeanor offers little indication of the competitive fire that rages within.

But it’s there, alright, shown only to those who really know her, those who witness the daily toil and the physical toll of a training regimen that has made the Dubliner among the world’s top sailors.

“She’s remarkable in her consistency,” says James O’Callaghan, performance director for Irish Sailing. “She does the work every day, no matter how she feels. She understands if you want to be good at something, you have to do it every day. It’s a very simple mantra, but it’s actually quite hard to follow.”

O’Callaghan has worked with Irish Sailing since 2005 and is well placed to judge what separates those who fall by the wayside and those, like Murphy, who go on to make it at the highest tier.

“There’s no silver bullet, no magic trick, it’s a high tolerance for monotony,” he says. “She does the work day in, day out and that’s what makes champions. There’s lots of people with talent who don’t make it because they’re not able to do the workload or they’re afraid to fully commit, afraid it might not work out.”

Even in her teens, when sailing was as much about socializing as it was about competitive success, Murphy was never afraid to commit.

“That’s the bit of courage people don’t really see with Olympians and medal winners,” says O’Callaghan. “They make a conscious choice they’re going to put themselves out there to see how it works out. There’s a vulnerability in that but you have to commit, you can’t do it on a half measure or you get found out at this level.”

Source: independent.ie

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Program
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6
Men’s Two Person Dinghy – 470
Women’s Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFx
Men’s One Person Dinghy Heavy – Finn
Men’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Women’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Original dates: July 24 to August 9, 2020
Revised dates: July 23 to August 8, 2021

Details: https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/schedule/olympic/