An interview with Luther Carpenter on U.S. team’s Tokyo 2021 Olympics

An interview with Luther Carpenter on U.S. team’s Tokyo 2021 Olympics preparations

by David Schmidt 3 Nov 11:45 EST
November 3, 2020

2020 has been a tough year all around, but Olympic athletes and aspiring Olympic athletes have had a particularly hard go given the still-raging coronavirus pandemic. For starters, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, a change of a single whole number in the moniker that has far-reaching implications for athletes who have spent years sharpening their competitive blades and timing their peak performances to coincide with a particular two-week window in time.

For sure, sailors have this a bit easier than, say, gymnasts whose competitive careers age-out way sooner, but a lost year is still a lost year. And, for aspiring Olympic sailors, 2020 didn’t exactly present a lot of opportunities to move the needle towards the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Also, it’s important to note that even among American sailors who planned to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the pandemic’s blade didn’t cut evenly. The USA qualified for nine out of ten Olympic sailing events for the 2021 Games (we missed out on a country berth in the 49er class, however we are first in line to send a team if a qualified country forfeits their spot on the starting line). Of these nine qualified classes, individual U.S. sailors and teams have already completed their Olympic Trials and have earned berths in all but the Women’s 470 class.

This later bit is interesting. On the one hand, athletes who have already earned their berths know that there’s a plane ticket waiting for them come July. But for the four teams vying to represent the USA in the Women’s 470 class, their Olympic Trials won’t end until the 2021 470 Worlds (March 5-13). This raises important questions: Is the hill steeper for aspiring American Women’s 470 sailors, or will their still-ongoing trials period help to keep their blades especially sharp come late July and August of 2021?

I checked in with Luther Carpenter, US Sailing’s Olympic head coach, via a phone call, to learn more about the US Sailing Team’s preparations for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.

Clouds sometimes have silver linings—has the US Sailing team found any unexpected benefits from having extra time to prepare for the now-2021 Tokyo Olympics? If so, what are these?

Absolutely. As head coach and a class coach, one major goal we are working on for this quad is accurately determining each sailor’s strengths and weaknesses. Normally, finding the opportunity and proper amount of time to focus on those weaknesses can be tough. You’re loading up the trailer after Palma, a week before Hyeres, and this doesn’t leave a lot of time to work on specific…