SAN DIEGO – Paul Cayard has raced in the America’s Cup and the Olympics, and was the first American skipper to win one of sailing’s toughest challenges, the Whitbread Round the World Race.
One of America’s most accomplished sailors, Cayard now faces another arduous task: guiding the underperforming U.S. Olympic Sailing Team as its new executive director.
The United States has won just one sailing medal in the last two Olympics combined, a startling result for a country that used to dominate the podium.
Americans failed to medal in the 2012 London Games, their first whitewash since 1936. They avoided a second straight shutout in 2016 thanks to Caleb Paine, who won the bronze in the Finn class.