S'pore in wind-win situation

S'pore in wind-win situation

2014 YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

All week at the Jinniu Lake, where the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) sailing competition was held, Samantha Yom had been teaching herself to function like a robot.

Race on, switch on.

Race off, switch off.

It was the sailor's own way of keeping her head in the game, after going through three straight days of women's Byte CII race delays due to a lack of wind at the venue, located two hours away from the Youth Olympic village.

Dealing with the unpredictable elements while out on the water has become second nature to her. The long waiting game, however, was something she had to learn to grasp.

"The toughest thing about this regatta was the waiting," she said, shortly after clinching the first of Singapore's two gold medals yesterday.

"It's quite tiring because we just sit around. You're waiting for the wind, (but) you have to try to rest (at the same time).

"Mentally, you have to be very strong. You need to know when to switch on and switch off, stay motivated, and be ready to give your all when there are races."

Coach Fernando Alegre, who joined SingaporeSailing in 2005, said this regatta has been one of the toughest he has led the Republic's sailors to.

"It's been very much a mind game. It's an Olympic Games, which means there's an extra bit of pressure and lake sailing is very complicated in general," said the Peruvian, named Coach of the Year at the 2012 Singapore Sports Awards.

"Winds are shifty and unpredictable. Samantha has less experience in handling pressure at international regattas so it was important to keep her calm."

Once she was on the water, however, the Raffles Girls' School student was no stiff robot as she nimbly controlled her boat to finish first in the 30-strong fleet.

Her consistency over the seven races of the opening series gave her a cushy position in second place before yesterday's final race, 19 points ahead of her closest competitor.

Four points more, however, and she could snatch the gold medal from Dutch sailor Odile van Aanholt's hands.

She said: "Perseverance was really important this time. I was trailing, but I kept fighting. I had a bad race (she posted a 21st place in Race 4) and I was a bit demoralised after that, but I still kept fighting.

"That's what you should always do - fight and keep pushing on."

And so fight she did yesterday, even after the half-way mark when van Aanholt remained poised for gold, but the 16-year-old Dutch could only finish seventh in the last race and lost the title by a single point overall.

After crossing the finish line, Samantha jumped into the water in celebration, while van Aanholt could only reach the shore in tears.

Said Samantha: "I can't control how others race. I can only control how I do my own race. I told myself, whatever it is, to just sail my best and the results will fall into place - and it did."

As Bernie Chin pulled his boat back to shore after the final race of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) sailing competition yesterday, all he did was quietly de-rig his boat.

There were no fist pumps, high-fives nor wild celebrations. Just a simple mantra: "Must stay calm. The results are not out yet."

Perhaps it was precisely this refusal to get ahead of himself, or to allow a single bad race to determine the end result, that propelled the 15-year-old to a historic gold.

His overall score of 38 points over seven races in the regatta - he finished fifth in the final, non-discardable race yesterday - was sufficient to keep his lead in the 30-strong fleet.

Portugal's Rodolfo Pires (47) took silver, while Jonatan Vadnai of Hungary (50) was third. Brazil's Pedro Luiz Marcondes Corres, who was just four points behind Bernie going into the final race, fell to sixth place after finishing ninth yesterday. The competition was earlier postponed for three straight days due to lack of winds.

The victory completed a stirring comeback by the Singaporean, who slowly but surely clawed his way back up the standings after a disastrous start that placed him at the bottom of the fleet after the two opening races.

As someone who came into the Games touted by many as a medal potential, Bernie admitted he struggled to recover mentally from his forgettable start.

Said Bernie, who was third in the boys' category at the Under-16 Laser 4.7 World Championships last year: "I was very frustrated with myself, and I knew that if I continued like that I would not do well.

"But the regatta was just starting. I knew I had to get over it, and focus on the next few days."

For that, he has two men to thank. British sailor Ben Ainslie and coach Fernando Alegre - the former for the story of his comeback at the 2000 Olympic Games, and the latter for playing the role of storyteller.

Ainslie had a similarly bad start to his campaign that year in Sydney, but came back to win the first of his four Olympic golds.

Said Alegre: "To start like that was very disappointing for Bernie, so it was very important to work his mind after that, keep reminding him not to lose confidence in his ability and not lose faith."

As Bernie rose steadily up the standings, other sailors soon became wary of the Singaporean's surge, attempting to derail him especially when wind speeds registered higher than Singaporeans are known to be adept in.

We are very good in strong winds, they would say to him. I am very good in strong winds too, would be Bernie's response.

"There's no point feeling pressured because you won't be able to perform in the end," he said.

"It's not over until it's over. I never gave up. I kept pushing on. This means a lot to me."

maychen@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Aug 25, 2014.
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