The Unpaved Road
Written by Nick Thompson | 30 June 2011
It has been a while since my last update, in honesty this is due to two reasons.
Number one is that I have been so busy preparing and doing all that I could to try to get the one spot to the Pre-Olympic Test Event; the major stage to selection. The second and probably the most important is that I have been unsure of quite how to take the potential loss.
Skandia Sail For Gold was a game of two halves, starting off well and leading half way through was fantastic, I was sailing smart and very fast; however day one of Gold fleet was my downfall. Making two tactical errors on the first two upwind legs of the races saw my dream of the perfect event fade fast.
I went into the medal race in 8th looking to go out with a bang even though I could not medal. I was leading this race most of the way round before getting flagged (for rocking my boat) right before the finish. How apt.
I finished up a credible 5th, but such is the quality of Skandia Team GBR that it was not enough. Paul Goodison sailed an impressive finals series to finish up in 3rd and thus gain selection to the test event. All credit to Paul. I mention the quality of my team as I am not the only one in this position, with the 470 Men and Women, 49ers & Finns all having a few teams/sailors with world beating talent, who just may have lost a chance to represent Queen and Country.
So what now…? This is the tough question.
My chance of Olympic Selection potentially rests in the hands of Paul. If he medals at the Test Event (as expected), it may be over. A tough position to be in, as it is now out of my hands. Thus the path that I now follow is very much unpaved.
The focus of any Olympic Athlete is the Games, complete devotion on this event is paramount and only absolute confidence in ones ability will give a chance of Gold. When the chance of this is removed, it is hard to adjust and decide what hand to show.
After a while of thinking over this subject, it has become clear that 2016 has to become my focus. In the mean time attempting to gain the World and European Titles is the goal. I have come close in the past two World Championships finishing up in 3rd and 2nd respectively, time to step up.
The flame very much burns bright, although it may not be the Olympic one.