The Rio 2016 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team was comprised of fifteen athletes hailing from eight U.S. States and territories. The sailing events were based at Marina da Gloria on Rio de Janeiro’s harbor front, marking a rare Games where sailing took place near the heart of an Olympic city. Rio de Janeiro’s breathtaking scenery served as perhaps the most memorable backdrop in the history of Olympic sailing, and the mixture of open-ocean and inner-harbor racecourses provided competitors with a challenging mixture of racing conditions. The sailing events of Rio 2016 took place from August 8-17, and a young U.S. Sailing Team featuring only two returners from London 2012 submitted a strong performance. Team USA won a bronze medal in the Men’s Heavyweight One-Person Dinghy, and qualified for six medal races in the ten sailing events.

“We are very proud of the effort this team submitted in Rio,” said Josh Adams, the Managing Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing, who became leader of the team after London 2012. “We came ready to compete against the world’s best and showed Team USA’s ability to contend. Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) set the pace with his bronze medal, an outstanding performance. We are equally proud of the American sailors in six classes who raced in their medal races, reserved for the top-ten overall, and the positive way in which all fifteen athletes represented their country in Olympic competition.”

Paine’s bronze in the Men’s Heavyweight Finn was a triumphant moment for both the first-time Olympian from San Diego, and the national team as a whole. Paine’s wire-to-wire victory in the Finn medal race elicited roars of excitement from sailing fans massed on Flemengo Beach and crowded around screens back home in the U.S. “It’s been a tough battle for me, and I feel fortunate to come up with a medal in the end,” said Paine. “I just saw the wind, and sailed towards it.” Paine was never threatened after rounding ahead of the fleet at the first race course mark in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. With his victory he passed Croatia’s Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic in the overall standings and earned a place on the podium.

The American Men’s 470 team of Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.), the U.S. Sailing Team’s top-performing duo over the past four years, came achingly close to a medal and finished in 4th place overall. McNay competed in his third consecutive Olympic Games in 2016, and submitted a career-best performance. “We were fighting for the top spot on the podium at this event, which is all you can ask for as a competitor.”

Annie Haeger (East Troy, Wisc.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) had a chance to join Paine as medalists, but narrowly missed out after finishing 10th in the medal race. The first-time Olympians started the final race in second place overall and demonstrated their considerable speed by leading around the first two marks. However, the American women were unable to stay out in front on the tactically unpredictable medal race course off Flamengo Beach, surrounded on almost all sides by the dramatic mountain peaks of Rio. As a result of the double-points medal race, Haeger and Provancha finished their event in 7th overall.

After an impressive charge up the standings in the second half of the event, Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) and Louisa Chafee (Warwick, R.I.) finished 8th overall in the high-speed Nacra 17 mixed multihull. The pair suffered two mishaps earlier in the event when trapeze wire breakages forced their withdrawal from races 3 and 5. Despite the setbacks, Gulari and Chafee showed both skill and mental toughness by competing near the front of the fleet for the rest of the event.

Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.) qualified for the medal race in the 49erFX, and finished in 10th overall. The youngest team in the fleet, Henken and Scutt said a top-10 performance was their goal headed into the event. Scutt said the exciting racing provided by the high-speed 49erFX skiff class was an important development for the sport overall. “I think it was about time that women had a skiff in the Games, and I think the performances this week, with the competitive fleet we had, showed that we all belong here.”

Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) came into Rio 2016 with high hopes after getting on the podium at two Laser World Championships in the past four years, and winning her third career Pan American Games medal. Despite that strong track record, and extensive time spent living and training in Rio, a podium performance was not to be for the 2006 Rolex World Sailor of the Year and US Sailing Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. Despite her frustrations at the Olympics, Railey undoubtedly ranks among the best athletes in the history of the class, with more World Championship medals (5) to her name than any other Radial sailor.

Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) finished 11th overall in the Men’s Laser, just missing the top-10 cutoff for the medal race. The two-time College Sailor of the Year and Laser North American Champion finished Race 10 tied on points for 10th place overall with the Dutch competitor, and Buckingham came out on the wrong side of the tiebreaker scoring system. Nevertheless, Rio 2016 was a strong effort for the first time Olympian, and Buckingham’s result was the best by an American in this notably deep and competitive class since Athens 2004.

Two-time Olympian Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.) and Joe Morris (Annapolis, Md.) finished their Rio 2016 regatta on a high note, with a 6th place result in Race 10 representing their best score of the event. Barrows and Morris, who also competed together on the collegiate level at Yale University, finished the regatta in 19th overall.

Americans Marion Lepert (Belmont, Calif.) and Pedro Pascual (Miami, Fla.), both aged 20, represented Team USA in the Women’s and Men’s RS:X classes, respectively. Lepert finished 16th overall, and four of her twelve races were impressive top-10 finishes. Pascual finished in 28th overall.

With the help of its supporters and sponsors, the US Sailing Team Sperry (national team) established a training base in Rio in early 2013, and a full fleet of Olympic-class boats was acquired for the facility through the generosity of  Hunt and Betsy Lawrence. American athletes campaigning for the Games had unprecedented access to the racing areas on Guanabara Bay and outside the harbor on the Atlantic ocean. By living and training extensively in Rio for over three years, U.S. sailors gained a level of comfort and confidence with the competition venue that would prove of great value during Rio 2016.