Interview with Dean Brenner
May 28, 2008 by Trim Sailing | 0 comments
Interview with Dean Brenner, US Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman on Team Dane-Sperry's campaign and more...
Interview with Dean Brenner
US Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman
Tell us a little bit about John Dane and Austin Sperry and when you first met them.
I first met John Dane at a Rolex Miami OCR in January 2005 when he was sailing with Austin at the time. I have known Austin a little longer; we first crossed paths when he was sailing Stars with John Kostecki.
John is a guy that first tried to make the Olympic team 40 years ago. He is the poster boy for long term dedication and I really credit him for that. Austin should be looked at as an inspiration for young athletes. He is a young guy himself that is dedicated and in the best shape of his life. He is part of one of the most thorough Olympic campaigns anyone is ever going to see. He has managed to do it in a way staying likable and humble despite his success. He is always willing to give an opinion and lend a hand if someone needs it. John and Austin are the types of people we want to see in the Olympic program. They are good guys that work hard and have earned everything they have. With that said, they have my ultimate respect.
Austin mentioned how your guidance and support have been really helpful for him over the years. You appear to be very passionate about the sport. What do you attribute this to?
Austin is one of my favorite athletes in the program. He is very easy to get along with. He and John are both such great guys. My passion for sailing comes from the same place as a lot of our top athletes. It is a wonderful sport and a fun way to spend a lot of time. I am a little late to the sport; I didn’t start till I was 20 years old. I was not as interested as a child. I came to it late in life when I was in college. My passion comes from the fact that I always feel like I am trying to catch up on experiences others have had since they were little. When I campaigned for the Olympic team in 2000, the US program was very different than it is now. A lot of things I am working on as Chairman come directly from what it was like campaigning as an athlete. So a lot of my passion comes from the first hand experience at how hard it is to do what John Dane and Austin do.
How would you compare John Dane and Austin Sperry with previous US Star boat Olympic teams?
They are as prepared as anyone can be. They are incredibly thorough and ran a very methodical and impressive program. I will be completely honest with you, when I first met John and Austin, I didn’t think they were going to win the trials. I thought they were excellent sailors. But, the Star class is loaded with talent in the US and worldwide. If you asked me 3-4 years ago who was going to win the trials, I definitely would not have said John or Austin. But as the Olympic cycle went on and I started to take notice how thorough they were being. It became really clear to me that they were a force to be reckoned with. By the time we got to the trials in October ‘07 there were no questions that they were one of the favorites. Our last Star representative was Paul Cayard and Mark Reynolds. John may not have quite the same name recognition in the sport, but he and Austin are every bit as prepared and every bit as talented.
What are some of the extensive demands placed on the Olympic athletes, in particular the sailors?
In my opinion, training for the Olympic Games and attempting to win the trials in the U.S. is the most difficult task in the sport sailing. The Olympic Games have gotten so refined and so professional. Serious Olympic campaigners have a much higher sensitivity to everything that is necessary for success. Their equipment must be perfect. They must be physically fit. They have to have coaching and they have to buy more sails more frequently. The whole level of preparation is exponentially higher, which means more money, more time, more dedication, higher level of physical fitness, and better sailing skills, if you are going got play at this level. It is not for the vein of heart, there is no question about it.
What are some of the techniques used by the U.S. Olympic sailors in an effort to prepare for the venue’s conditions?
Every time you are preparing for a big regatta you spend time thinking about the conditions and replicating them. Since we can’t spend a ton of time in Beijing, we look around for opportunities to replicate the conditions. We definitely have our athletes and team searching around for light conditions, ocean sailing, and places with a lot of currents. Qingdoa is really the perfect storm so to speak of difficult sailing conditions. It is going to be light, it is going to be lumpy because it is in the ocean, and there is going to be a lot of current. It is about as tough as it gets. I think the sailors have been really savvy with their preparations because they know they have to get good in those conditions.
During your term as OSC Chairman, you have led a turnaround of US Olympic Sailing that includes a 300 % increase in funding. What are some of the ways you have successfully found funding for the Olympic program?
There are a lot of people that have contributed to these increases. It is not a one man show. We had the help of our executive director at U.S. sailing Charlie Layton, our whole Olympic Sailing Committee including people like Gary Jobson and Bob Billingham as well as, our staff and our athletes. Everyone has contributed. Olympic programs and the athletes it attracts, can sell almost sell themselves. They are very likable people, our athletes. They are very dedicated, they are fit, they are focused and they are articulate. They are very easy to like and they are very easy to want to support. This is an initiative that can almost sell itself. One of our bid messages was that we streamlined where we spent money. We cut a lot of the bulk in the budget and we redirected every penny possible directly towards athletes like John and Austin. We then were able to look someone in the eye and ask them to support the program and help us put the program back at the top. We emphasized that 85% of every dollar will go straight to the athletes. Any perspective donor wants to hear how we are going to spend the money. Once we cleaned out our budget and refined our message, we initiated a very thorough private donor program that we call the Medalist Program. We have raised well over $250 million from over 50 people in multiples of $25,000. Most all of that funding has gone directly to the athletes. That has allowed other people who support our program like the U.S. Olympic Committee, who continues to be our biggest donor, to get excited about what they saw from us and actually increase their funding. Next was the corporate sponsorship that we took head on in 2007 by signing a title sponsor for a significant amount of support. For the first time in the history of our program we actually renamed our National team, U.S. Sailing Team Alphagraphics. They are now the title sponsor of the US team. We are very proud to be the first sport in the United States to have a title sponsor for our National Team.
You have been selected to lead a second term as the Olympics Sailing Committee Chairman, what are some of the changes you envision between now and the 2012 Games?
We ask ourselves that a lot. One of the benefits of having me and the rest of the leadership team come back for 2012 is that we can do some long term planning. One of the flaws in the past is that leadership has been in 4 year cycles. We want to do a lot more of the same that we have already done. We need to keep working hard on the funding and directing it towards the athletes. We’re taking a hard look at how we organize our coaching function. We are going to start focusing very heavily on the 2012 venue in England. We also have to work harder at some youth development programs. We have started that process during this past Olympic cycle, but we need to do it better and we need to do more of it. On one hand, it is a lot more of the same and on the other hand, we need to go a little further in some directions that we have already started.
How does the USOT program/support compare to other countries?
There are a number of other National Teams in other countries that benefit from some significant support from either their government or some sort of other of government agency. Their funding tends to come in larger chucks and that is a good thing for them. Teams like GBR and other countries have really benefited from it and they have done a really nice job leveraging that support. If you had to pick a program that is at the top of the heap you would definitely point to team GBR. They are very well funded and they are very well organized. When we took over 3 ½ years ago, by our estimation we were out spent by the top countries by about a 10 to 1 ratio. Now I would say we are being out spent by a 3 to1 ratio. We have closed the gap pretty significantly, but we still have a ways to go. Not only do we have less funding, but we have to work harder for the funding we do have. We don’t have these huge chunks coming from the government or from the lottery system. We get our funding from many different sources. We have to keep hustling all the time and working for it. The good news is that we are being out spent by much less than we used to be, but the bad news is that we have to keep working really hard to keep that momentum going.
Do you foresee any changes in the US Olympic Selection Process for sailing?
That is a topic that was hotly debated right after the trails last October. Every Olympic cycle there is always some scrutiny on our system and as Olympic sailing gets more professional and harder to compete in; fewer athletes are willing to make the daunting time commitment. It is has become a more refined game and the trail’s fleets tend to be smaller than they used to be. Several people have correctly asked whether our trials system is the right selection system. We haven’t made any decisions yet, and we want to wait until after the Olympics are over because that is the ultimate test of whether or not we have chosen the right people. One of the nice things about our current system is that you have to peak, you have to be on your game and you have to win. If we were to replace our current system with a hybrid system with the best combined finishes in 3 events over the course of the year, you don’t necessarily have to win an event to go to the Olympics. I think John Dane and Austin were major beneficiaries of this, because they knew that on October 14th the trials were going to be over and that they needed to be at the top of the podium if they were going to go to the Olympics and they treated it like an the Olympics Games. We will see what that translates into for John and Austin. I can tell you that their level of preparation was certainly heightened because of the demands of the Olympics trials.
What do you believe are the biggest hurdles for aspiring sailors in the U.S. to get into the Olympic program?
The biggest hurdle exist is peoples’ heads with the perception that it is so far out of reach. I can tell you from firsthand experience that it is a lot more accessible than people realize. I learned to sail at the age of 20. I sailed at the yacht club with my parent’s friends for four years and then at 24 decided I want to make the Olympic team. And then after a thorough six year effort my teammates and I finished second at the trials and almost qualified for 2000 team. I am living proof that it is much more accessible than people realize. The second hurdle is that it has become a lot more of a time commitment. At the beginning you can ease your way into it and just start sailing in Olympic class events but eventually if you are serious you have to step up and make a significant time commitment. The hurdles are time and money, but once you get past the first hurdle, your own mindset, if you are talented and willing to organize your life, you can do it. I am living proof of how far you can really go.
