America's Cup: Top US Olympic sailor to focus on American Magic
by Tom Ehman, SailingIllustrated.com 25 Oct 2018 22:34 BST
26 October 2018
Day 3 – Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) and Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.) – World Cup Series Miami © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Two of the USA's top Olympic hopefuls, Bora Gulari and Helena Scutt, have pulled the pin on their 2020 campaign in the Nacra 17, Mixed Multihull
Well respected US Sailing website, SailingIllustrated.com reports: Sad news but probably no big surprise, given the current state of the USA's overall Olympic Sailing effort, and the other yacht racing opportunities – professional and corinthian – available to both Bora Gulari (USA, Detroit, MI) and Helena Scutt (USA, Kirkland, WA) – to say nothing of their bright career prospects outside of sailing.
Mr Gulari skippered the USA's Nacra 17 entry in the 2016 Rio Games finishing 8th, while Ms Scutt crewed on the USA's 49er FX entry at Rio, finishing 10th. After Rio Bora and Helena teamed up hoping to improve their Olympic medal chances in the newly-foiling Olympic catamaran class. However, their results have been mixed at best, in part due to serious injuries suffered during their respective successful sailing careers, and the desultory funding of the US Sailing Team by the powers that be.
Moreover, Bora has been selected as a member of the New York Yacht Club's 2021 America's Cup team, American Magic. AC teams pay their sailors, whereas Olympic sailors -– at least in the USA – pay to play while largely if not entirely putting their non-sailing careers, and earning powers, on hold.
Both have engineering degrees from two of the nation's top universities: Bora from the University of Michigan, and Helena from Stanford University.
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