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World Sailing opens its doors

by Helen Fretter 22 Dec 2015 13:14 GMT 22 December 2015
Malcolm Page and Mat Belcher on day four of Sail Melbourne © Brett Crockford / Sport the Library

Has Malcolm Page got the hardest job in sailing? At a special press briefing by World Sailing (the new name for ISAF), Helen Fretter met the former Olympian now tasked with improving the governing body's image

As head of Marketing and Media, Page – who won gold for Australia in the 470 at both Qingdao and Weymouth – is responsible for influencing World Sailing's reputation at a time when the organisation is facing some fierce criticism within the sport, and pollution at the Olympic sailing venue is generating plenty of negative headlines in the mainstream media.

It's no understatement to say it has not been the best year for the organisation formerly known as ISAF. With the opening ceremony for Rio 2016 fewer than eight months away, there is continued and widespread press coverage about the high levels of bacteria and viruses, as well as debris, facing the sailors in the waters of Guanabara Bay. This month's launch of the renamed and rebranded 'World Sailing' at the World Yacht Racing Forum was overshadowed by the resignation of its CEO Peter Sowrey, less than six months into his appointment. Sailing was removed from the next Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) – just as World Sailing is attempting to raise awareness of and participation in Olympic and Paralympic class racing though its World Cup series. The governing body's effectiveness, leadership, and willingness to change have all been called into question.

In a bid to end some of the recent speculation, World Sailing held a press briefing in London this week attended by a select number of journalists, which included some of the organisation's most ardent critics. President Carlo Croce and Head of Events Alastair Fox invited open questions on topics including Sowrey's departure and the state of the Olympic sailing waters in Brazil. They were also joined by athletes' representative Sarah Gosling, and communications boss Malcolm Page.

Honest answers

Page is an affable Australian with the Antipodean ability to remain chipper and upbeat even in the face of jetlag and some fairly antagonistic questioning. He believes that opening up the World Sailing organisation is going to be key to improving its image. "They cop a lot of flack, and a lot it is undue, but mainly it's stemmed from bad communication. That's certainly something I'm trying to change. We'd prefer people to contact us and we'll try and answer as best we can – and as truthfully we can. It might not always be the right answer, but it's what we've got to do. Warts and all."

Warts and all is a risky business. When asked about Sowrey's recent departure, President Croce recounted how the split came about, saying: "We got the feeling – both of us, two sides – that it was very difficult for somebody that was not in this sort of world but was used to a more professional, let's say, international corporation, to face various issues."

When questioned further Croce went on to qualify the unguarded statement, praising both Sowrey and the Executive for their professionalism, but do comments like these leave the organisation wide open to accusations of being unprofessional? "I guess it could certainly put that perception out there," said Page. "People love to stick the knives into ISAF, and a lot of the time that's unwarranted. That's the whole reason we've got to be accessible. We've got to show our face. There will be our knockers out there, and there always will be. But we've just got to keep being as honest and open and accessible as possible."

Far from ideal

Sports pages have recently been dominated with stories of alleged corruption in football, drugs in cycling or cheating in athletics. But for most mainstream sports the rough comes with the smooth, criticisms followed by valuable headlines and positive coverage. Is Page worried that sailing's rare mainstream column inches may be wasted on stories about pollution?

"I would hate to see it," Page admits. "It certainly upset me personally at the Test Event when I saw that. But I do think when it comes to the Games, it will be more about the stories, the athletes. And I think a lot of that will come because of all the work that's been done. So I know it's a negative at the moment, but a lot has been done to make it as good as possible."

At the briefing, Head of Events Alastair Fox explained that organisers had contingency plans to deal with various states of both wind and pollution in Guanabara Bay. "We've now got seven course areas, three outside the bay and four inside the bay. To be honest we probably only need four course areas to run an Olympic sailing competition – we only used four during the London Games. We've built in the flexibility of being able to choose the course areas largely because of wind issues in Rio, which can be quite challenging, but obviously also because of pollution reasons as well. That could be water quality, or because of a lot of objects in the water.

"We also have in our racing schedule three reserve days for all of the 10 events, and we're fairly confident that we can handle a full competition schedule with whatever wind issues and, worst-case scenario, pollution issues we get thrown at us."

Whilst the situation in Rio is clearly far from ideal, there was a sense that World Sailing's approach was now largely focussed on managing and monitoring the situation. Fox reported that at the two previous Olympic Test events all the bacterial data they had received on the course areas was "okay", but admitted that heavy rainfall could radically alter the picture in terms of levels of both debris and sewage reaching the Olympic waters.

At the 2015 Olympic Test Event ISAF's own doctor studied the health of the athletes, and on the water officials. He reported that of the 688 athletes, race officials, and coaches involved, 8.89% picked up a bug, had diarrhoea or other sickness in Rio. Fox commented, "Of those, very few of them you could actually say were as a result of being on the water, and actually most cases the athletes themselves believe they got the illnesses from eating in local restaurants, or other shore-based things.

"So certainly from our doctor's point of view, the rate of sickness was well below what he had been expected, and it was actually well below what most people travelling to Brazil would expect to find."

By contrast, German 49er sailor Erik Heil, who finished third at the Olympic test event this year but was treated for 'multi-resistant' skin infections at hospital on his return to Berlin, had little doubt as to why he became ill. Heil wrote on his team blog: "I have never in my life had infections on the legs. I assume I picked that up at the test regatta. The cause should be the Marina da Gloria where there is a constant flow of waste water from the city's hospitals."

Away from the sailing areas a new pipebelt is due to be finished by the end of December 2015, which it is hoped will greatly reduce the pollution in the Marina del Gloria, where many of the Olympic classes will be launching.

Even if the sailing waters aren't significantly improved, the anticipation is that the backdrop of Sugarloaf Mountain will help generate iconic images that portray Olympic sailing in a more positive light.

Olympic gold medallist Sarah Gosling commented: "For sailing to be right there in the centre of the Olympics, for athletes to be able to stay in the village, to be able to go to the opening and the closing ceremony, it's a massive deal. And the pictures and the films will be incredible. So whilst the athletes obviously want it to be fair, safe and clean, just to be part of the actual Olympics is awesome. If you talk to most of the sailors, they don't want to talk about [the water quality] anymore, they just want to get out and win medals.

"It's not ideal, but we do recognise that everybody is working incredibly hard to do their best, and there is only a limit to what can be done. As long as people don't lose medals because they hit objects in the water, then I think ultimately everybody will be happy with the Games."

Page agrees, saying that Rio's backdrop is on a par with, if not even more spectacular than, his native Sydney harbour. He comments: "I do believe that [it will be positive for sailing]. Not only because of the visuals, but I think it's going to deliver some of the best champions because of the skills they're going to have to have to win there, they're going to have to be complete. It's the currents, the flat water, the lumpy water, and we can get anything with wind. They're going to have to be ready for anything."

Whoever takes over the reins as Page's next boss will have to be ready for pretty much anything as well. The Olympic Games are just 230 days away.

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