FAI, soaring and Olympic Games

On Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 10:46:43 PM UTC+3, wrote:
I hate being a "Debbie Downer" but.......... I was on the 1988 Olympic Team and have been part of an orphan sport for 45 years

"What's to lose" actually also What is to gain? is another good question before embarking down a road without a map.

I will give you 2 experiences that kind of speak to both.

1. We had a woman who had place 5th in the prior World's and felt to get on the podium requires her not to work at all and therefore fundraising was a high priority. She raised sufficient funds, unfortunately the thing she was unable to do was have sufficient time to train - she did not make the Team.

2. This/my Sport has been in every Olympics since 1936. They felt pretty cocky and safe after the 1980 Olympics - we won 3 medals, had Olympic profit sharing money, excellent exposure and a great sponsor. They forgot to take good care of the sponsor and that exposure alone would not gain any new Athletes.

The sponsor is gone - the money is gone and how many of you have heard of Olympic Sprint Kayaking

I seem to recall a couple of chaps by names of Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald who weren't too bad at it.