New Quad, New Leadership

The Rio 2016 Games marked the completion of the four year cycle for Olympic and Paralympic sailing, and began the annual evaluation of national sailing programs which resulted in leadership changes for four of the more storied programs.

USA
October 7, 2016: Josh Adams stepped down as Managing Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing after guiding the program for the past four years. On November 28 it was announced that two-time Olympic Champion and seven-time World Champion Malcolm Page would succeed Adams, taking on the newly defined role as the Chief of Olympic Sailing. USA leads all countries with 60 medals in Olympic Sailing.

New Zealand
November 16, 2016: After eight years at the helm, Jez Fanstone has stepped down as Yachting New Zealand’s high performance director following arguably the country’s most successful Olympic sailing campaigns. Through his two Olympics, New Zealand each time doubled the medal count from the preceding Games, with New Zealand and Australia leading all countries with four meals at Rio 2016. No replacement yet.

Great Britain
December 23, 2016: After 15 years as Britain’s Olympic Manager, Stephen Park is departing after leading the team for four Olympic cycles, with Britain’s world-beating sailors amassing 23 Olympic and Paralympic medals during his time at the helm. Mark Robinson filled the position on April 28, 2017. Overall, Britain trails USA by two medals, and leads all countries with 28 gold medals.

Australia
August 29, 2017: Peter Conde, Performance Director for Australian Sailing, will be leaving his position after 13 years. Peter was instrumental in the collective development of the Gold Medal Plan which resulted in the creation of the Australian Sailing Team in 2006. Australia’s medal count through three Olympic Games trailed only Great Britain. No replacement yet.