Swett to Represent U.S.

by Jan Harley on 12 Sep 2000 PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (September 11, 2000) - The Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) of
US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has announced that Hannah Swett
(Jamestown, R.I./New York, N.Y.) will receive the automatic U.S. entry to the Rolex
2000 ISAF Women's World Match Racing Championship. As host country for this year's
event, the U.S. received an automatic entry in addition to the invitations issued to the top
two Americans on the women's match race ranking list (Betsy Alison of Newport, R.I.,
and Dru Slattery of Marblehead, Mass.).
Swett and her crew of three (to be named) will be one of 24 all-women teams racing in
Sonars on Tampa Bay in Florida. Host St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
will conduct 218 matches over seven days to determine the world champion. The
addition of a women's match racing event for the 2004 Olympic Games has driven
interest in this annual event -- now in its third year and organized by the International
Sailing Federation (ISAF) -- to an all-time high with over 40 teams expressing interest in
competing.

To determine the automatic U.S. entrant, the OSC solicited sailing resumes from
interested skippers and appointed a three-person panel consisting of one member each
from US SAILING's Board of Directors, OSC and Women's Committee to review the
resumes. In making their decision, the panel considered heavily the criteria outlined in
the call for applicants: resumes emphasizing match racing experience; sailing results
from the last two years, as well as any campaign plans for the 2004 Olympics.

Swett, has launched her plans for the 2004 Games with a mission to improve her
placement on the ISAF ranking list (25th as of August 22). She recently won the grade
four Rolex Alpena Invitational (June), and the grade one Rolex Thompson Cup (August).
She was fourth at the Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup in late May. An Intercollegiate Sailing
Association All-American in 1989 and '91 while at Brown University, Swett was a port
trimmer aboard Mighty Mary in the 1995 America's Cup. She undertook two Olympic
campaigns in the Europe class, finishing second out of 19 boats at the 1996 Europe
Olympic Team Trials and sixth out of 23 boats at the 2000 Europe Olympic Team Trials.
By:
Jan Harley, Media Pro
Date:
Tuesday, 12 September 2000