| Olympic
Fate At Hand For Kevin Hall, Women 470 Sailors
By
Rich Roberts
For YachtRacing.com
As
the last of the Olympic qualifying events get under
way this week, only six countries are assured of
competing in all 11 classes at Athens in August---and
the U.S. isn't one of them.
 |
Katie
McDowell. US Sailing photo
|
In
fact, with the U.S. Olympic Trials completed, only
nine of the winners are certain they're going to
Greece.
The
other two---Kevin Hall in Finn and the women's 470
team of Katie McDowell of Barrington, R.I. and crew
Isabelle Kinsolving of New York, N.Y.---should know
their fates by the end of the week.
But
even if they all make it to Athens, the chances
of Americans winning medals in sailing appear slim
. . . that is, if the latest International Sailing
Federation rankings for the Olympic classes are
credible, which some people doubt.
Hall
is still awaiting a renewal of his exemption permitting
him to use testosterone, a steroid hormone, following
his battle with testicular cancer several years
ago.
The
quirk in McDowell and Kinsolving's Olympic dream
is that although they won their trials last November,
the U.S. hasn't qualified to compete in the class.
Their last chance is this week's 470 world championships
at Zadar, Croatia.
With
the total number of sailors limited to 400, it's
one thing to qualify to represent one's country
and another for a country to qualify to be represented.
Countries with no reasonable chance of winning medals
are weeded out in designated qualifying events,
most of which are in Europe.
Countries
that have qualified across the board are Australia,
Spain, France, Great Britain and Germany. As the
host country, Greece gets a pass into every class.
What
are the women's chances?
"Very
good," says Jonathan Harley, the Olympic director
for US Sailing.
An
American boat---it doesn't have to be theirs---must
finish no worse than fifth in Croatia among countries
not yet qualified.
If
they can't do it, their wild card hope is the team
of Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler that finished
second in the U.S. trials, only three points behind.
They'll
have to fight their way through about two dozen
other countries with the same desperate intent.
Japan and China are mounting mass attacks to qualify
in both the men's and women's 470 fleets with 11
and 8 entries, respectively.
Harley
didn't mention that McDowell recently suffered a
back injury and was a doubtful participant as recently
as 10 days ago. Coach Skip Whyte went so far as
to ask JJ Isler, a two-time Olympic medallist in
'92 at 2000, if she could go to Croatia to sail
with Kinsolving in McDowell's place just to help
qualify the U.S. for the Olympics.
Fred
Hagedorn, the Olympic Sailing Committee chairman
for this quadrennium, said a few days ago, "Katie
did injure her back while sailing in Portugal. As
she sailed in France at Hyeres she determined that
she needed to come back to the USA to be evaluated
and treated.
"On
Thursday [April 29] she underwent evaluations and
over the weekend she received treatment. Her prognosis
is good and Katie is now back in Croatia and has
been sailing with Isabelle."
 |
Kevin
Hall. US Sailing photo
|
As
for Hall, he has been in limbo since dominating
the Finn trials in February. It's all up to the
International Sailing Federation, the International
Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Hagedorn
said, "The ISAF and the IOC in consultation
with the WADA have discussed which body is the correct
one to issue a Therapeutic Use Exemption
(TUE) for the Olympics. About two weeks ago they
agreed that the issuing body should be the ISAF.
"The
ISAF Medical Commission, to be followed by the ISAF
Executive Committee, are reviewing the application,
and we anticipate the formal response in the next
one to two weeks. As the ISAF had previously granted
Kevin a TUE for 2004 through August 13, we are encouraged
and anticipate a positive result."
Harley
said, "We've gotten as far along as we can
go with the process. He has applied for---and it's
in the very final stages--for him to get an exemption
that will carry him for the next four or five years.
"This
whole WADA code is brand new, and . . . there have
been some disagreements in the reading and the interpretation
of--for lack of a better explanation---who's in
charge here?
"It's
taken a while to sort it out. I think I have it
sorted out, and we've done everything and supplied
all the necessary paperwork and information, and
I'm very sure there will not be any problem with
Kevin's participation in the Olympic Games. There's
not a doubt in my mind. I'll go to the bank on that.
"The
final decision rests with the International Sailing
Federation. They pass on the information to the
Athens organizers and the International Olympic
committee."
So,
if ISAF says he's OK, that's it?
"Yep."
Meantime,
even if Hall and the women do get to Athens, U.S.
medal hopes would seem bleak in light of the latest
ISAF rankings for Olympic classes issued last week.
No
American is ranked in the top three in a class.
Yanks are 42nd in men's and women's windsurfer,
10th in Europe, 18th in Laser, seventh in men's
470, 26th in women's 470, fourth in 49er, 36th in
Finn, ninth in Tornado, sixth in Yngling and 22nd
in Star---the latter, although Paul Cayard and crew
Phil Trinter just finished fifth as the top Americans
in the Star Worlds.
Harley
has seen this picture before.
"Part
of the problem is that other than our Olympic team
nobody sails in all of the events that are required
to [achieve] ranking," he said. "You could
take a look at the last sets of rankings before
the Olympic Games, then look at the Olympic [medal]
results. [The rankings] bear no resemblance to reality."
The
ranking guidelines on ISAF's Web site read: "Each
competitor counts his or her best seven results
over the previous two years. The two-year period
is calculated on a rolling basis (from today's date
to the same date two years previously). Results
less than one year old are multiplied by factor
1.5."
Isler,
who won a silver medal at Sydney with Pease Glaser
as crew, said, "I don't think we were ever
ranked better than 22nd before the Olympics."
Hagedorn
said, "When evaluating how our nation's sailing
athletes are performing on the world stage, the
Olympic Sailing Committee typically looks at the
most recent world championships and at events where
all of the top players in the world are present.
"The
ISAF World Ranking System is not as discriminating
and includes many events [where] many of the top
sailors are not necessarily in attendance. The ISAF
system measures the events where sailors from more
than a minimum number of countries attend. This
means that many European events are included that
many sailors from the rest of the world are not
able to attend for both time and financial reasons.
"I
look forward to seeing the results when all the
marbles are on the line and all of the top sailors
are racing head to head. Ranking systems are interesting
and entertaining, but they are really only accurate
when all of the athletes compete in all of the events
that are included in the system." |
