Halfway there

We speak to Nick Rogers and the Mayor of Qingdao about the sailing venue for the 2008 Olympic Games

With two years to go until the Beijing Olympics many sailors now have their attention firmly turned to the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao. In fact many of the bigger Olympic teams have been looking toward Qingdao since before Athens 2004 came to a close.

In the past very real concerns have been voiced by a number of top sailors about the 2008 sailing venue and the possible lack of wind (see Ian Walkers comments following the finalised Olympic plans in 2004 here.) However, we are now well into the Olympic cycle and the possibility of being able to do anything about the venue or time of year it is being held is realistically zero. It is easy to focus on just the rumours and conjecture floating around but we are a long way down the road to the Olympics and now is the time to sit back and take an objective look at the venue and start to understand the various pros and cons of Fushan Bay, Qingdao.

Last week TheDailySail attended a press conference where the city of Qingdao expressed their commitment to a stopover during the 2007/08 Clipper Round the World Race. A number of dignitaries attended the event both foreign and domestic. There Olympic 470 silver medallist Nick Rogers, - on RYA representative duty while he nurses his broken hand back to good health - and the Mayor of Qingdao, Xia Geng were on hand to give us an update.

Rogers, like several Olympians we have spoken to, has come to terms with the conditions at the venue and is working hard at giving himself the best possible opportunity to medal again come 2008. He has already spent a lot of time at the venue (75 days in total) and is well placed to offer his perspective on the sailing conditions there.

The first thing Rogers notes is just how quickly the seasons change. This puts sailors in the rather unfortunate position of only having a short time slot when the weather is similar to how it will be for the actual Olympics. “We were there a month later than the Olympic dates and we had some really good wind,” he explains. “It is hard to find venues that are similar to how it is in July because there simply aren’t many. England in the summer can be pretty close and Miami can be close but apart from that…”

It is, however, not just the strength of the wind making sailing tricky in Fushan Bay. Other significant factors are involved as well. “The sea state is very difficult; it is really choppy because it’s a flat very shallow sea bed. This also means it is not always stronger tide out to sea and you get some tricky situations with swirling tide lines. Also the wind does not have any real pattern. It is not thermally enhanced in any way. That is quite odd because you get the feeling it is going to be a good day when you launch and then it just craps out,” continues Rogers.

Aside from the conditions Rogers seems genuinely excited about the venue saying that all Olympics are special for different reasons and he is looking forward to this one very much. “The venue is brilliant. Sydney was obviously very special because of the harbour. Athens was special because it was in Europe and it was beautiful weather. I think Qingdao is special because of the culture and the city and it is a great place in terms of the setting. Also the people are really good fun.”

As mentioned before Rogers has already spent a significant amount of time at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao and there is obviously more to come. In the four year build-up to Athens he spent about 12 months actually at the Olympic location and Rogers believes this is very important. “The British sailing team are famed for going and spending time out in the venue and I I think it does us a lot of good. When you look at Paula Radcliffe who goes and wins all the cold marathons around the world and then almost dies of heatstroke in the marathon in Athens you start to see how important that time is. We had our exercise bikes up on the top of the roof and we would go out at midday and work really hard on top of the hotel so we could get used to it,” he says. “I think that same attitude will be really important in China too. You need to be ready and prepared for the conditions at the venue.”

At the same meeting Xia Geng (below) gave the Chinese diplomat version about the Qingdao venue and the future of Chinese Olympic sailing generally. “Our aim for the Olympics is to get young people excited about sailing so we can give them opportunities to do well in the future. It is important for us to start looking toward the future of the sport,” said Geng when asked if China was aiming for Olympic medals in sailing.



In stark contrast to the Athens games, Geng says of the actual venue, the whole thing is finished bar a couple of very minor areas. He confirms Rogers' statement that the whole building has been structurally complete since around the time of Athens Olympics in 2004.

With the venue finished the Olympic test event in August should give all the sailors a reasonable idea of what it will be like to be at the actual Olympics when they come around in 2008. Geng is excited about this opportunity to show off the facilities and the venue. “The test event will be an important event for the sailors, but it is also a test event for us to make sure that everything is right for us and for the sailors. There will be lots of locals watching the racing as well as people from other countries at the event,” he says.

China is not typically a country with a big name in sailing but this is something that Geng says is changing. The reasons for this are twofold, China is an increasingly wealthy country and however you look at it sailing is a costly sport to start becoming involved with. There is also a greater interest in sailing by the general public, specifically in Qingdao. Geng says the selection of Qingdao as the Olympic sailing venue for 2008 has inspired many people to start taking an interest in the sport. Some of this increased interest was shown during the Clipper race stopover and the arrival of Ellen MacArthur’s B&Q trimaran in Qingdao, where a great many members of the public turned out to see the boats first hand. “We were happy to see so many people come to watch the Clipper race this year. Next time the Clipper race comes to Qingdao it will be a month before the Olympics and will act as a good prelude to the games,” he says. “We will be very proud to have someone from Qingdao in the Olympic sailing, it shows that we can do it and is inspiring for the young children,” explains Geng

Clearly Qingdao is going to be a tricky and confusing venue for all the sailors involved in the Games. There is the potential for there to be no wind at all for the duration of the event. What is clear, however, is if we are lucky enough to get some wind, this could turn out to be one of the best run and most enjoyable Olympic sailing competitions ever. Of course this is very reliant on conditions but when is sailing not? When it comes down to it unless we are unlucky with the weather the most prepared and talented sailors will be at the front of the fleet, because they are the best. After the Olympics is gone there will be a major well constructed venue to get a whole new generation of young Chinese into sailing and that has surely got to be worth something.