Sarah Douglas: Sharing the experience

Sarah Douglas (CAN) was the top North American at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the Women’s One Person Dinghy event, closing a courageous campaign in which she won at the Pan American Games. While the 30-year-old wanted to improve on her sixth place at Tokyo 2020, we applaud her commitment to the Olympics and her ability to share the experience:

And just like that, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have come to a close. I finished 8th overall in the ILCA 6 class. What a journey it has been! Thank you all for the support that you have given me over the last 10 years.

Just like Tokyo, I spent a decent amount of time in Marseille in the lead up to the start of racing. This games was a bit different than Tokyo in that other classes were racing while I was still preparing for my competition. Due to the other classes racing and lack of wind, they were prioritized and sometimes I was unable to train as they needed all of the race courses for other classes.

At that point, I was content with it as I had done the work and it was all about energy management and staying cool, calm and collected. There were a number of things to manage, such as other athlete’s emotions, my coach getting sick, and general distractions but I am very proud of how I carried myself. My goal was to “answer everything with grace” and I believe I achieved that.

And so it began, racing at my second Olympic Games. Based off my experience in Tokyo, I felt ready and relaxed and had minimal nerves going into the first race. During the regatta, we had many delays due to lack of wind, some funky conditions and one day of the classic mistral.

Throughout the week, I found myself struggling with the first beat and having to fight my way back. I was proud to turn 25th place mark roundings to 13th place finishes and continued to claw my way back in many of the races throughout the week. The “pac-man mentality” that my coach and I have been practicing over the last couple of years turned out to be the theme for my week of racing. I am proud of my perseverance and never give up attitude. I chatted with my mental performance coach every night to help redirect my goal and intentions of each day.

I always seemed to be in the pack and never quite put together the top 5 finishes that would have put me more into medal contention. Going into the final day of qualification, I was borderline on making the medal race. Five hours later and two abandoned races, I managed to squeeze into the medal race in 10th place.

An Olympic medal was mathematically out of contention for me but I was proud of the effort I put in to get thereafter struggling during the week. Entering the medal race in 10th gave me the opportunity to truly enjoy the experience without any pressure. I just wanted to go out, have fun, and see where I would end up.

That’s exactly what I did, and it ended up being an extremely emotional race as one of my closest friends and training partner from Norway (Line Flem Host) secured the bronze medal. It was a bittersweet ending for me to celebrate her hard work and well earned performance.

It was great to see success come out of our training group and I was proud of my third place in the Medal Race which led me to climb up to 8th in the final standings.

I loved having my friends and family present to watch me compete. Every day, they chanted my name as I headed out to the race course. I loved seeing the Canadian flags in the fan zone and how many people were there to support me.

When it came to support, I feel like I had the best support team. Of course, my coach, Vaughn Harrison, was always supportive, but I have to give a special shout out to the legendary Ken Dool. He was instrumental in our day to day in Marseille and I felt so extremely grateful to have him in my corner and for the endless support. I knew I could go to Ken on a good day or bad and he was such a key member of our Canadian Olympic Team.

Another key team member was Alice Sobiesiak; our team athletic therapist. Her positive energy and enthusiasm to do any task and help out the team in any way was incredible. She came to my room everyday to do hydration testing, made sure I had enough ice, got my ice vest ready and of course provided treatment to make sure my body recovered during the racing.

After celebrating my training partner’s bronze medal, I headed to Paris to take in more of the Olympic experience. We took the train and went right to the heart of Paris. My short trip to Paris consisted of media interviews, time at the Canada Olympic House, watching other sports, and celebrating the other Canadian athletes.

Paris 2024 did an amazing job hosting the Games and I am so glad I got to experience a post-COVID Olympic Games. I wrapped it all up at with attending the closing ceremony. I was honored to walk through the stadium and celebrate the end of Paris 2024 with the other Canadian Olympic athletes.

Thank you for supporting me in this Olympic journey to Paris 2024. To represent you and Canada at my second Olympic Games has been a huge honor. For all those who have shared my newsletter, donated to my campaign, or given so many kind words of encouragement, thank you – I heard you cheering for me all the way in Marseille!

What’s next? This is the question I have been continuing to get since the end of the Olympics and I am sure it will continued to be asked. The truth is, I don’t know. I do know that I am taking a well deserved break, have a potential hip surgery in the fall, am getting married next year and will be taking time away from the ILCA 6.

When I know the answer, you will all be the first to find out!

Details: https://www.sarahdouglassailing.com/

Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Program:
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Venue: Marseille, France
Dates: July 28-August 9

Details: https://paris2024.sailing.org/