Olympic cheats

The ISAF President believes some Olympic sailors are blatantly cheating.

ISAF President Paul Henderson has put the cat amongst the pigeons by speaking out against "rampant cheating" in Olympic sailing.

Henderson has opened a debate on the ISAF website after he personally observed sailors blatantly disregarding the propulsion and weight jacket rules stipulated in the Racing Rules of Sailing at the Miami and Hyeres multi Olympic class regattas this season.

But Henderson believes the root of the problem, why rules are being pushed and the line over stepped, is due to financial incentives and rewards given by national governing bodies.

"Most countries now pay competitors bonuses for how they do on the Olympic regatta circuit and where they place on the ISAF ranking list. Coaches are also hired and are rewarded by how well their sailors finish," he says.

"That is not the case in Britain," replied RYA Racing Manager John Derbyshire in an interview with madfor sailing today, immediately setting the record straight. "No British sport that is Lottery funded receives performance bonuses for either their athletes or coaches."

"I don’t accept that governing bodies are pushing their sailors to infringe the rules," continues Derbyshire, who led the successful British team at the last Olympic Games and was personal coach to Laser gold medallist Ben Ainslie. "I have no doubt that individual sailors may use opportunities at less well policed regattas to get up the ranking list and into funding squads in their national teams or to qualify for places for the world championship where they might get into national teams."

Henderson’s real gripe is with Rule 42. He believes there is "complete disrespect for the propulsion rule".

One particular instance Henderson draws an example from is the men’s singlehanded fleet at Hyeres. "The Finn was totally out of control and I went and yelled at the top competitors who admitted under questioning that they were cheating."

"The worst [cheating] occurs in the traditional boats, like the Star, Finn, Europe and Laser. The Yngling will also be a problem. The Tornado and 49er are boats where kinetics really do not work so no problem there. Mistrals have been out of control for years and they have developed 'Air Rowing' to an art," he explains in his report.

By "Air Rowing", Henderson means the intense pumping of the sail - which is allowed under the current rules.

Derbyshire’s reply continued: "A lot of countries work with top umpires and judges to work out what is allowed and what’s not to train their sailors to work within the rule. It is now harder and harder to do that because if top international judges and umpires work for a nation it might preclude them working at the Olympics or the America’s Cup."

"I don’t believe there is wide spread cheating. I believe the integrity of the sport is fundamental to most sailors and the vast majority of coaches, although I’m sure there are exceptions. If you ask the sailors, they would probably say it [rule 42] is not a black and white rule, it does have grey areas but they wouldn’t want to see it go."

One top Olympic sailor told madfor sailing today that the grey zone needs to be agreed by umpires and the sailors in advance of a regatta, but kinetics are part of the dynamic of the sport. "You can not just sit stiff in a boat. It makes a difference between a good talented sailor and a non sailor, whether you can feel the boat or you’re like a stone. It’s not a sport for dead people, it’s a sport for living athletes who want to move around," he said.

And both Derbyshire and Henderson agree that consistency in umpiring and making the ‘line’ clear will be the key to solving this apparent issue in the long run.
Henderson’s view is that the "ISAF must engage a Team of Rule enforcers who appear at all major Olympic class events ensuring that the rules are adhered to and the sailors know exactly what will be allowed and what will not. They must go on the water in small inflatables with Yellow Cards and Red Cards for repeat offenders".

But the issue of weighted clothing is also a grey area. Rule 43 states sailors not allowed weight jackets but they are allowed to wear clothing up to eight kilos, unless it says otherwise in a class rule. Sailors commonly wear extra layers to keep warm and up to the weight limit, but the rule also stipulates they are not allowed to wear extra layers specifically to increase their weight, but many will argue they are wearing extra layers due to the elements, not for purposeful weight gain.

Henderson believes all these issues are "analogous to taking performance enhancing drugs in other sports. They are both cheating."

Judging by the responses his report has already provoked, Henderson has started an interesting debate that could have far reaching implications to Olympic sailing in the future.