Irish sailing reached a new high in the summer of 2016. Annalise Murphy sailing the Laser Radial became the first female sailor from Ireland to win an Olympic medal. The silver she secured was also Ireland’s first in 36 years. David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson won a silver medal at the Moscow 1980 Olympic games.
At the conclusion of the race Murphy said “she did not know whether to laugh or cry” such was her elation. The sense of relief was palpable. Murphy had come agonisingly close at the London 2012 Olympics but in the end came home with 4th place, the infamous “leather medal.” Fours years wiser this time she was not going to let the opportunity pass her by. Five of the best sailors in the world had the opportunity to take one of the three medals available in the final race 1cjnl6b. Conditions were light and tricky and Annalise sailed a masterclass.
Reflecting on the medal in the weeks following the games ISA Performance Director James O’Callaghan said ” the medal for us represents proof of concept.” O’Callaghan has been largely responsible for implementing a system and structure into Irish sailing which has been delivering outstanding results in the last six years. Murphy herself entered the programme in 2005 under the tutelage of race coach Rory Fitzpatrick. He has been with her every step of the way on the eleven year journey. Talent takes time to deliver and considerable amount of blood sweat and tears, Murphy’s achievement is testament to this.
Talking to O’Callaghan it is clear he believes this is the beginning of a new chapter in Irish sailing rather that end of one. “Annalise’s silver is going to be the catalyst for many more achievements by Irish sailors.” Any neutral observer at the teams homecoming could not fail to have been impressed by the sheer number of children gathered to greet their olympic heroes home. Sailors from far and wide had gathered to get a fist bump or even better an autograph from the 2016 team.
It is hard to argue with the logic, all of the team in Rio achieved personal bests including another medal race finalist in the 49er class. When you consider Ireland also just won it’s fourth world medal at youth level in the last 5 years it is easy to understand why #futureisbright is used repeatedly across Irish sailing’s social media platforms.
On the challenges ahead O’Callaghan points to the fact that the system is now producing so many sailors with outstanding results the difficulty will be resourcing the campaigns properly. This was a challenge Irish sailing had foreseen and is one of the main reasons the Irish Sailing Foundation was set up. The sailors have delivered on their potential with more to come now it is over to the stakeholders and individuals passionate about the success of Irish sport to get behind this juggernaut.