|
To our amazing and tireless supporters,
It has been just over one month since we returned home from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. On August 5th, we arrived at Chicago O’Hare airport and were greeted by family and friends cheering for us with Roble Shea posters and decked out in USA gear. It was an incredible homecoming after such an intense and amazing experience at the Olympics.
Since returning home, we have both been taking time to see friends and family who we missed dearly over the last year and a half. During the run-up to Tokyo, Covid forced us to make long trips to Europe and sacrifice seeing friends and family (to limit traveling and potential exposure). We are very grateful to be vaccinated and to now have some down time to catch up.
Representing Team USA and all of you at our first Olympic Games was incredible. This opportunity would not have been possible without the amazing support we received from all of you over the last five years. We also truly felt all of your positive vibes over in Japan and are forever grateful.
It has been nice to take a step away from the campaign to digest and process everything that happened over the last five years and specifically at the Olympics. We are proud of how we prepared; we gave everything we had for five years not to simply get to the Games, but to fight for a medal. Together we became resilient through the highs and lows of many setbacks and successes. While the result was not what we wanted, it is a reminder that the journey in itself is what is most important.
Going into Tokyo, we were the fittest mentally and physically we have ever been. We sacrificed a lot in order to slowly climb and grind to become the best sailors that we could within the four (and then five) year window that we had. We were determined to leave no stone unturned. And most importantly, we were lucky enough to receive support from so many people around the world who contributed to the success of this campaign.
We are a strong team, and we showed that by competing at or near the front of the fleet with consistency throughout the Olympics. For the four days of racing we were always in the top 10 overall, had 7 top 10 results in 12 races and were wearing silver medal jerseys after day one. If you want see some incredibly fun skiff racing featuring yours truly, check out day 1 of racing here.
We made our exit from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Saturday July 31, finishing in 11th place overall. We started the final day of racing statistically within reach of the podium, but unfortunately we lost a lot of points after we were flagged twice by the umpires for Rule 42 infractions.
These were the first Rule 42 flags of our entire FX sailing careers, and these types of flags remain extremely rare in skiff sailing. The two situations were frustrating and confusing, especially because we pride ourselves on our sportsmanship. We go to great lengths to follow the rules and race with honesty and integrity.
The first penalty was given in the first race of the day near the leeward mark. We immediately spun a 360 degree turn below the gate, reset mentally and did what we could to gain back boats. We received our second yellow flag in the second race of the last day while we were spinning for hitting the windward mark. The situation was confusing and it didn’t occur to us that we could have violated Rule 42 and incurred a second penalty.
Now that we know what the umpires were trying to convey to us on the course, it’s clear that we should have retired voluntarily from the race after the second flag instead of continuing to sail. This would have allowed us to discard a DSQ instead of getting a non-discardable DNE (22 points). We take full responsibility for this mistake. We don’t blame the umpires, and neither should our supporters.
Our goal for The Games was to rely on the processes that we knew worked for our team. We felt that if we did that, we would be in a position to win a medal. Until we encountered the unusual situations that we did on our final day, that faith in ourselves and in our plan was serving us well. We can proudly walk away from the Olympics knowing that we sailed well, that we executed our plan, and that we left it all out on the racecourse.
The team behind our team, especially our families, has been incredibly supportive for the last five years. Thank you so much to all of the organizations and individuals who contributed the success of this campaign in some way or form. Thank you to the US Sailing Team and Team USA for all of the support and an incredible experience at the Olympics Games. We would also like to extend our congratulations to all the Olympic medalists. Our hats are off to Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands.
We have grown so much as athletes, teammates and people, and we feel blessed to walk away from this chapter of the campaign with skill sets that will undoubtedly serve us for the rest of our lives.
Thank you for being part of Team Roble Shea!
Sincerely,
Steph and Maggie
P.S. We hope you enjoy the photos below that showcase life on and off the water at the Olympics!
|
