Season 3 - Ep9 - The British Olympic Medal Factory Part 1

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In this month's edition of the podcast, Shirley Robertson talks to a host of Olympic sailing stars as she delves deep into the world of British Sailing, and asks just why the team has become such a dominant force in Olympic Sailing.

Robertson, a former Team GB member herself of course, a four time Olympian and double Olympic gold medallist, talks to three of Team GB's Tokyo 2020 gold medallists, discussing their own personal routes to victory, but also delving into life as a member of the most successful Olympic sailing team of all time.  She also talks to the Team's Head of Performance, Mark Robinson, she discusses the rigours of back to back Olympic campaigning with Team GB's Luke Patience, and she gets the outside viewpoint from US Sailing's Paul Cayard.

Kicking off the podcast in Episode 1, Robertson talks to the woman who's gold medal in the 470 Class in Tokyo makes her the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time - British 470 helm Hannah Mills.

"At the Games there's so much distraction, there's a bit of a circus because it is the Olympic Games....it's like a marathon of horrible stressful days but what I think I'm good at is just accepting that it's fine...the nerves are fine, it means you care, it's a good thing....it's just part of you for that experience, and being able to accept all those things that you can't control....whilst all that's going on the background, that's the difference between success and failure at the Games."

Mills and crew Eilidh Mcintyre were one of three gold medal winning teams for the British Sailing Team in Tokyo.   In part two of the podcast Robertson talks to the men's 49er Class crew Stu Bithell and she talks to Finn gold medallist Giles Scott.

Episode 1 wraps up with an insightful and moving discussion with 470 fifth place finisher Luke Patience.  A three time Olympian, Patience started his career with a silver in London, but after two consecutive fifth place finishes in Rio and Tokyo, is both honest and sincere in his description of the pain that constant Olympic pressure can bring.  It's a moving account from one of British Sailing's most eloquent of athletes.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected]. 

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