US Olympic Trials – Final

The US Olympic Trials finally went my way. My crew Phil Trinter and I had one of those weeks where everything seems to go your way. We like to think we earned it through our preparation. He is how we went about it.

A year ago we won the Pre-Trials in Miami and won the right to go to Athens for the Pre Olympic Regatta. That is when it really hit me that I had a real chance to win the Olympic berth. The first thing I figured out was that I need to get heavier and stronger. I know how strong I was when I won the Star Worlds in 1988 so that was a good benchmark in the gym. The star Class currently has a weight rule that entices the skippers to be heavy. So I hired a trainer, Sam Brovender of Vancouver to devise a training regime specifically for me. Sam had me putting in 3 hours a day 5 days a week on physical training. I realize that not many people can afford to dedicate this much time to working out and I appreciate that it is a luxury. But it is a requirement to reach the top of my sport. For the trials I weighed 215 lbs. and was stronger than I was at 28 years of age.

The next part of the plan was to attend all the big regattas in 2003. So we went to Athens and got the Silver and the worlds and got 8th