Vet and rookie aim for sailing gold

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Jul 31, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:35 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — The Olympic Creed states, in part, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part … The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.”

In that regard, a couple of China-bound sailors with Louisiana ties are already as good as gold.

Baton Rouge native and New Orleans resident John Lovell is competing in his fourth consecutive Olympics as he participates in the Tornado Class.

John Dane III, a native of New Orleans who has sailed out of Gulfport, Miss., since Hurricane Katrina, took a slow boat to China. He is a U.S. Olympic skipper in the Star class for the first time, 40 years after he first attempted to qualify for the Olympics.

Lovell has “fought well,” finishing eighth in Atlanta in 1996, seventh in Sydney in 2000, and claiming silver in Athens in 2004.

For Dane, at 58 one of the oldest, and undoubtedly most patient and persevering, Olympians, taking part in this Olympics is the undoubtedly the most important thing.

Lovell understands the fickle nature of reaching the Olympics after he and longtime crew Charlie Ogletree had to sweep their final four races at the Olympic Trials to qualify as the U.S. rep among the 16 Tornado participants.

“I always draw an analogy between sailing and golf,” Lovell said before leaving New Orleans for China. “There are a lot of good sailors and a lot of good players who can win on any given day. Luck can play a big role in sailing, but the better you prepare and the more familiar you are with the course, the smaller the role that luck plays.”

To that end, Lovell spent 20 days in 2006 and 20 days in 2007 sailing the Olympic course in Qingdao.

“It was during the exact same time frame as the Olympics,” Lovell said, “in order to simulate the weather at that time of year, the wind currents, and the sea state.”

Lovell recently returned to the course for the world championships at which the U.S. qualified for Beijing after he and Ogletree finished eighth, a showing Lovell said he was pleased with because it was attained in spite of equipment failures that plagued the team throughout the regatta.

Lovell and Ogletree, who share the same October birthday, both turned 40 during while qualifying.

“The Olympics and the Olympics Trials are the same format,” Lovell said. “It’s one regatta, so you have to be ready to have a peak performance right away. It’s really challenging mentally. You have to be ready to perform and close it out.”