Chris Gowers looks back at Paris 2024
by Andi Robertson 21 Aug 21:40 NZST
28 July - 8 August 2024
Men's Dinghy Medal Race in Marseille at the Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta © World Sailing / Sander van der Borch
Long-serving British Sailing Team coach Chris Gowers was in Marseille as 'Rules Adviser' - in essence a role which not only looked after all of the administration and application of all the rules, but also, as he describes, as the 'backstop' for the team.
At his sixth Games he was fielding and dealing with problems to reduce the pressure on athletes and coaches so they can focus on performance. Gowers has been associated with the Laser / ILCA class and was instrumental to the gold medal successes of Ben Ainslie and then Paul Goodison. It is fair to say no one in Olympic Sailing knows the class better.
Andi Robertson caught up with him on the last full day of competition...
Chris, you have done many, many Games, how have these ones compared?
The main feeling is they have been hotter, sweatier and lighter than many I can remember. You look back at Athens, that was not windy in the second week, so it has been quite similar to Athens second week. Very variable, lots of races abandoned, and a lot of pressure to get races in when TV is on, so it has been a big juggling act for everyone.
Have they (the organisers) done better or worse this time?
I think the communication has often been muddled, whether they have done a better or worse job is hard to say taking bias out of it. It has been difficult, the communications has been difficult, the whole sorting out the rules - what is a rule what is not - actually enforcing them.
There was one in the FX fleet at one minute after the one-minute flag there were definitely boats which were not over the line which were black flagged and assumed to be over the line until they can prove otherwise, but of course you can't even with tracking and so on. But think how many starts there have been and really it has not been that bad.
Decisions on abandoning? Everyone has their reasons... but from the outside it is quite hard to tell. For example, in the kites there were two abandoned that did not look any different to other races that weren't. There were two races when four in one and six in the other the riders didn't get started because there was not enough wind and they did not get abandoned, and yet two when Ellie was leading did get abandoned.
But it is a tough job for the Race Officers. They have to decide on the shift and the wind dropping whether that will make it unfair. There is a lot of pressure on them. They went to a Jury meeting with all the sailors invited and in they end they decided not to abandon it. Once people have finished it is very hard to abandon a race. It is tricky. You put a lot of power into the Race Officers' hands, and you don't know the comms between them and World Sailing representatives. What is the power balance there and what, really, is driving it? Is it TV, is it getting it done? It is hard to get consistency.
Has this been the hardest Olympic venue you have worked at?
This week, probably yes. One thing you would say here is that it is great venue... if you have one class and can choose where you go to on the bay. As soon as you have multiple classes it is a small bay and someone is going to have to go on a compromised course. Here they are small courses.
The ridiculous first ILCA 7 race, 32 minutes long, where everybody got to the windward mark in flat water at the same time.... the first race of the whole series on the exhibition course and they have to get off as another class has to come on. So yes, sometimes you can criticise the scheduling.
Who was not expecting there to be no wind behind the islands in the (iQFOilL) marathon race? Even before that there was still 2 kilometres between competitors - is that a race - that is 2km between the leader and second and second and third... And that is shoe-horned into a scheduled. Some of these things look odd from the outside. But it is it what it is.
And did these things affect Micky Beckett's regatta?
He made a mistake on Day 1 coming on a port lay line on a beat that was too short and found there was no room. That penalty cost him a lot. In the same race he got it wrong on the last run and so that was a 15-point swing against Matt Wearn. Other than that, he sailed very well. There was a BFD which was unfortunate, but if you are going to win a gold medal you are going to have to start pushing it, but you have to start behind the line. Micky being Micky makes all the right decisions whatever the situation and just fell on the wrong side of a couple.
Did he sail at his best this regatta?
Possibly not, which is probably then true about everyone except Matthew (Wearn). But that is the nature of the Games. You do tend to sail more rubbish races as you can't wait for wind as there is a schedule to stick to.
But then is this a learning one for him, like it took Goody two to win gold?
Micky has been around Thompo (Nick Thompson Rio rep) and Elliot (Hanson, Tokyo rep) in the build up to the last two Games to know what it is going to feel like, to know what to expect, but it is still different. It is no surprise here that the people at the front are the most experienced. Stefano (Peru bronze medallist) has been around a bit, but he started really well and kept going whilst everyone else messed it up. He sailed very well.
But much as the coaches say 'treat it like any other regatta, rely on your processes, it is the Olympics... it is all so very different?
As soon as you want through security it is difficult. It is different. And so it does not surprise you that Matthew (Wearn Tokyo gold) and Pavlos (Kontides, London 2012 gold) do well. I remember Pavlos turned up first in 2008 straight from the Youth Worlds, straight to Beijing. Since then he has sailed every year since, so, here that experience really counts.
And how is Micky Beckett then, it's been very tough for him considering his and the outside world's high expectations?
Micky is fine. He is probably better than some of the coaches! He will be back stronger and better for the experience. Apart from the Worlds in Mexico this is the first time he has been off the podium at the 'majors'.
And, like we said, it took Paul Goodison two Olympics to strike gold...
Goody was very much dominant in the light, but Micky is probably now more of an all-rounder.
And you, Chris, still loving it all after all these years?
I am still loving it, maybe not so much this role! You know, trying to keep tabs on 150 requests for information. Over the four years I have been job sharing with Matt (Howard) on the performance side and work with the Under 21s, but here I am 'rules adviser' - very much the back stop.
There are a couple of things from the ILCA 7 Medal Race. Micky got more yellow flags in the race than he has over the whole quad, and strangely enough when you have two judges watching two boats at the same time, the chances of them finding at least one breaking the rules to be quite high... you could say they should be watching Matt and Pavlos (contending for gold and silver) but then Stefano was very, very fast down the runs - that is where he got back into it.