We have all been watching the Olympics. There is one thing that is very important in all Sports....FAIRNESS.
We all witnessed the IQ Foil Medal races, which gave a huge advantage to the competitors who had not sailed as well as the series leader. Emma Wilson WON 8 of the 14 races. At the end of the Series Emma had 18 points. Second place had 49, which meant if we had used the dinghy format, Emma had won the Gold even without racing in the medal race. Emma then had to sit out all the races on medal day and wait for the FINAL race. This meant that all her competitors raced, became accustomed to the conditions, while Emma could only sit and watch.
In the Final medal race which lasted less than 10 minutes, Emma had not a chance to recover in such a short race, and ended up with a bronze medal. 3 boats in a race is never going to be fair. This scoring system is WRONG. It is not fair to the sailor who has consistently beaten everyone in the fleet racing. The points from the series racing are completely discarded from the medal race. Even the Gold medal winner said "This format is unfair, in my opinion, because Emma led all week in the races". This has to change, and we need to make sure that the message is clearly sent to World Sailing. No other fleet uses this system, and it is obvious why. We have to change the system to a tested and proven system to make sure it fairly represents the best sailor of the event. If IQ Foil used the existing system in the dinghy fleets, Emma would now be 2 x World Champion, European Champion and Olympic Champion!
World Sailing, CHANGE IS REQUIRED. It is time to speak to your competitors, coaches and National Sailing authorities around the world to find the right system.
Competitive Sailors, Please sign this petition, and SHARE IT AROUND THE SAILING WORLD, so we can make the change and send a VERY CLEAR message to World Sailing, and make sure that the best sailor on the water has the result they deserve.
Thank you
