Interview with a myth of Olympic sailing: Robert Scheidt
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Interview with a myth of Olympic sailing: Robert Scheidt
The “yellow hat family” is an important presence at the Circolo Vela Torbole, not only for its fame as great champions, but mostly for the way they embraced sailing and its values as a way of living: Robert Scheidt, his wife Gintare and now little Erik train on Garda Trentino as members of the Circolo vela Torbole. Scheidt chose Lake Garda as place where to train and also raise his beautiful family. Robert is a great example for many young people, just as the Grael brothers have been a great example for him. In this exclusive interview for the 2019 book of Circolo Vela Torbole, we will find out what’s sailing means for Robert Scheidt! From the sailing school, to his vision of Olympic sailing, the difficult role being a sailor and at the same time the father of another one, the best and worst moments of his 6 Olympics and his race toward the seventh, again with the Laser. . .
Where did you start?
I started in San
Paolo, in the lake of Guarapiranga, a
small lake but with a beautiful club, the Yacht Club Santo Amaro. My dad has
always been a member of the club, a sailor and he is the one who took me to the
club and with him I had my first experiences, on the family boat “Laser Bahia- style”.
At 4-5 years old I began sailing with my dad and then at the age of 9 I began
sailing the Optimist, according to the classic beginning of a sailing career,
then continuing with the Snipe, a very common class in Brazil and finally when
I had the right physical preparation I passed on the Laser Standard (I was
about 63Kg).
At that time there were no smaller sails as now there are, like the 4. 7 and
radial and so at the beginning I suffered a bit.
Everything began thanks to my family and the positive environment in the club, where so many others children like me, started to sail.
In the meantime
I've always done other sports such as swimming, athletics, tennis: the idea of
my family was to teach me different sports and let me choose the one I liked
the most.
How important is the environment sailing school
and then competitive teams in a country, in a club?
That's everything;
it's where you create the basis for the future of sailing, so the environment
of the club it's very important, the instructor and the coach, the way they teach,
the way they express themselves with children, the relationship that is established
with them. In the early years in this sport you can either “catch” the rest of
his life or even lose it. The relationship with the coach and a positive
environment, in which children respect each other, know how to play, is
increasingly important.
What does it mean for you and your wife Gintare
to see your first son Erik, growing up in the CVT competition team?
The thing that
we appreciate the most is that he comes to Circolo Vela Torbole gladly; we would
never ask him if he wants to go training. He takes his stuff, comes to the
club, rigs his boat, goes out and always comes back happy. He is learning very
quickly thanks to his coach Reka and the whole environment, he is lucky to sail
here in this beautiful place.
Has Erik asked you any technical questions yet
that you might not have expected?
He doesn't ask me
many things, but he surprised me in December, when I came back from the Star
Sailors League final, because he asked me in a very specific way why tocked at a certain point; he wanted to
understand my mistakes. . . but he doesn’t like to talk about the mistakes he makes! Actually at his age I didn't
have the maturity he has now; it's impressive to see how quickly they learn. In
any case, the best thing remains that he’s having fun and enjoying the sport, and
that's enough for me.
Any parental advice to other parents of young
sailors?
It is not easy because
when you become a father/parent a very strong emotional feeling is involved; it
is easier to give advice when you are not a parent; when you become one, it
changes a lot.
For sure it is important to help, to be present when the child needs you, but also
to not force too much.
You should not try to turn him into a champion too early; he/she must learn, and
mostly by making mistakes, understand
them and learn from them.
Then slowly if the child really likes the sport and wants to be fully dedicated
to that sport, then yes the parent can do
something more specific. It should never be too serious or too early,
because everyone has its own time in life. For children it has to be a pleasant
thing, a kind of game, there has to be the right balance. The parent has to be
there to help when it's needed, but also be careful not to “pull too
hard".
What are the most beautiful and important
values of sailing for you?What led me to sail
is the sense of freedom: freedom to go outside and sail against the wind,
hearing the sound of water when you passing the waves, to be able to take the
boat where I want, just like a child whom for the first time takes a bike and rides
by himself!
In the water there are various dimensions: you play with the wave, with the
air: all this interactions with nature, with the environment, has first of all
fascinated and captured me.
In sailing then there are rules, it's a game, but with its own rules, there are others who want to be as good as you are but you have to give your everything while respecting opponents and rules, it becomes important to learn to manage the material: you can’t have every day a new boat or a new sail, you have to be able to take care of your own cleaning and tidying it up: it’s an important lesson for the growth of a child. Finally, sailing is a sport that is never boring: every day there is a different conditions: you can have a sunny day, another could be rainy, one with strong wind or flat.
How would you set up a sailing school and a
competitive activity within a club? What's your vision?
The most important
thing is to offer a bit of everything to children and young people in order to
have the opportunity to try single-handed boat but also double - or crewed
handed boat.
There are people brought to one or the other depending on the personality. I’ve
always felt better on the single-handed boat, even though I sailed a double-handed
a boat like the Star. There are people that discover their talent by being a
bowman, for example. If you offer more possibilities everyone can both find
their passion and express their talent.
How would you organize a place like North Garda-Lake
for young people who want to train, if you could create an ideal structure or a
project for them?
I think there’s
something more important than the structure itself - although it's useful when
you can also have a gym, etc. . . What the athletes need is there: the water,
the wind. . . Here in Torbole and on Garda Lake there’s a spectacular place where
the wind is really never missing.
It is important to create a positive environment, working with good coaches
make a group growing day after day with a method, which is essential.
Surely changing the environment is useful; from the lake we can’t exclude races
on the sea mostly, in order to able to face also different conditions like current,
waves, salt water wherewith an athlete
must experiences.
Remain the fact that this place is unique in the world, there are many foreign
sailors who want to come here to train not only because of sailing, but also there
is the opportunity to practice many other sports: cycling, walking or climbing on
the mountains, skiing: there are many attractions, and many different
landscapes.
What do you appreciate mostly about the
Torbole’s north wind and what instead about
the ‘Ora?
Variety is crucial;
one of the best workouts you can do is make a long downwind in the morning towards
the south of the lake with the wind from the north (possibly followed by a rib)
and then come back in the afternoon. It is nice changing your perspective and
taking advantage from the length of the lake, so to find a greater variety of
conditions.
From Torbole is nice to go to Campione, Castelletto di Brenzone, Malcesine
where you can find different perspectives of water, lake and mountains.
The most beautiful day you remember spent in
the water here in Torbole? On which boat?
There have been
many wonderful days, but the one I remember with particular pleasure is when I
just returned sailing on the Laser in 2013 (after London 2012 in Star);
We organised a training with the Swedish team and we sailed downwind to
Castelletto with 20-25 kns, we had lunch there to my friend Luca (Modena ndr), when
we returned there was a strong wind this time from the south: 4 hours of downwind
in strong wind conditions: a really memorable day!
How do you succeed in finding new incentives,
to return to your seventh Olympics, in Tokyo 2020?
I am very
competitive; I like to always have an important goal and the most beautiful
thing in the world of sport is certainly the Olympic games. I think I'm still
able to play it and so if I'm motivated, why not taking on this new challenge?
Clearly it's not so easy anymore because the years go by, but I think I can get
to Tokyo in a very good snap. It was a difficult decision, because I stopped
for two years after Rio, doing other things in the world of sailing, but now
I'm really close to it like and I have to dedicate myself with great commitment,
I don’t like to go just to attend the event, I want to be ready and play for a
medal once more.
What would you suggest to a young athlete
aiming for the Olympics?
Having the Olympic
dream is already a very important thing; I have had it since I was a child and
the first goal was to qualify for the Olympic games. I never thought I'd get to do 6 Olympics; so first of all having this dream
inside of me and then having the right push to work for it with dedication;
then it becomes very important to have people around you, the family structure
but also to have a project that allows this dream to become true.
The moment you believe in your goal, you do it not only for yourself, but also
for your life. Thanks to this sport, there are many things you can learn, you can travel and
meet friends all over the world, and this stays for life.
What is your vision of Olympic sailing?
I think that World
Sailing has made so many changes in the last years and this creates some
confusion for the perception that both
the public and sailors can have.
Sailing is an expensive sport; doing an Olympic campaign costs money and I see
with some concern that sailing is becoming more and more expensive and the
differences in preparation between countries with more or with less resources
is becoming more and more evident.
If a boat like Laser or Windsurf, which are the most accessible and not too
expensive get kicked out from the Olympic program, this means that we’re going
in a wrong direction.
We must always have an easy boat, which gives the opportunity even to those who
come from an African country to compete on an equal footing against an athlete
from England or another rich country. Only this equality between countries
brings value to the Olympic movement, which is true only when it is represented
by a large number of countries.
In the Laser, for example, there is the possibility of having 70 countries;
other boat-classes cannot have a similar representativeness.
To have an Olympic history is fundamental,
that for other disciplines such as swimming or athletics is very strong
and well-known. With the sailing-sport is not possible because they change more
and more often the Olympic classes. Changes are important in sport, but they
can be made on the materials, but not continuously on classes, because in this
way the costs are not kept under control and the Olympic history goes missing.
What is the maximum expression of sailing for
you?
The moment when the
race starts, with so many boats around you fighting in order to earn that
meter, the sails flapping the wind, the time that you have to keep under
control, the adrenaline that is released in that moment . . . a set of elements
of great intensity, which I particularly appreciate.
Do you have a sailor you particularly like?
In Brazil I always
had great examples, such as Lars and Torben Grael. Lars for the ability to
overcome obstacles and therefore able to teach me a great lesson in life.
Torben for the sporting aspect because he is a champion: being a little older
than me, he’s always been my example. When I was little I looked at him, I saw
that he was winning the Olympic medals, until I started to compete against him, then with him on big boats so then I started to have an important
personal relationship with him. When I did my first Olympics in Atlanta they
were in the team and having them in the team was for me a reason for a great
technical growth. Then I always had a great admiration also for Paul Elvtröm, a
great sailor.
Have you received any contact for America's Cup
Project? Would you be interested?
I had the chance to
get involved in the America’s Cup Project world, but it was always a difficult
decision because when I could enter that moment, I would have had to give up at
the same time the Olympic Campaign in the Star, which was too important for me
at that time. In the end I've always chosen the Olympics and I think I've made
the right decision. The America's Cup remains beautiful and I have a lot of
admiration for those who do it.
Once the Olympic campaign is over (if it will
end. . . ) would you like to continue as helmsman or being a tactician of
offshore boats or as coach?
As long as I
can I prefer to sail; it's clear that physically I can't sail the Laser forever,
but I really do like big boats like the TP52.
I already sailed
them last year, it's a shame that the team decided not to continue for this
season, but when there will be an opportunity I would like to go back to that
circuit. I've had a lot of requests for coaching, but when you enter that world
you don't come back to the boat as an athlete and so I try to keep that
possibility away as long as I can!
Olympic joys and sorrows: which Olympic game do you remember with most pleasure and which one with most pain?
All the Olympics where I won a medal were of course wonderful (in the order Atlanta gold, Sydney silver, Athens gold, Beijing silver, London bronze), always different moments of life, the two sailed in a double-handed boat (on the Star with Bruno Prada) were interesting because I shared that with my bowman, but the second gold medal in the Laser in Athens 2004 (after the one in Atlanta 1996) was special because of the final race, where I finally took that gold, the first time a Brazilian athlete won a gold medal for the second time! Instead, the hardest moment was in Sydney 2000, in the race where I lost the gold to Ben Ainslie. I could aim to thegold medal but that final match race denied me and for months I kept thinking about that race; it was very difficult overcome that moment. In the end, I won the silver anyway, so I couldn't even be too sad or too strict with myself!
The fourth place in Rio was tough, but I was aware that I was not the favored and that I could not make any mistake in that week and it hasn’t been like that.
How did you experience the two Olympic boats Star and Laser?
It all depended on what was done; once the campaign for Athens was over, I didn't want sail the Laser anymore: I had won three Olympic medals, eight world championships; for me a cycle had closed. From that moment on, the Star became for 8-10 years everything I wanted. When the London Olympics ended in 2012, I wanted to go back to the Laser again, and I did. And now I'm motivated again to face Tokyo 2020 always with the Laser!
Interview by Elena Giolai