NRV Olympic Team

The finest combination of talent, training and team spirit has time and again earned the NRV what all of us are thriving for: namely titles.

Members with a distinguished record of regatta successes create a special NRV climate for encouraging young talents and backing already experienced high performers. It is the result of dedicated commitment to top level sports, when the NRV Olympic Team flies the NRV flag on the world's great regatta courses at world cups and international championships.

The idea of an NRV Olympic Team was born in the year 2000 during the Olympic Games in Sydney. While "down under" NRV yachtsmen jointly with NRV Commodore Gunter Persiehl discovered that a multitude of problems plagueing individual participants could be solved far more effectively in a team. Gunter Persiehl saw the chances offered by the new challenge and put together a strong team of expierenced sailors.

Four years of systematic carrot and stick training paid off by the time of the next Olympics in Athens in 2004: The NRV Olympic Team was represented in the Star, Tornado and 49 classes; in both the Star and Tornado classes our athletes even took first and second places in the DSV selection trials - success of a kind that no sailing club had ever previously been able to claim. The NRV Olympic Team initiative was on the right course.

The secret of this sporting success rests primarily in synergies. These are generated, on the one hand, by a systematic and personal exchange, among other things of sporting expertise between the athletes themselves. Also making contributions, on the other hand, are members of the advisory council for the NRV Olympic Team, who include previous Olympic medalists Achim Griese (NRV) and Willy Kuhweide (NRV). In other essential areas, specialists provide considerable input. For very many years now, for instance Prof. Dr. Norbert Harlander, has advised the NRV Olympic Team in psychology. The team is currently receiving sporting and psychological support to "Vision Peking 2008 and London 2012".

All this would scarcely be feasible on such a systematic and successful basis without far-reaching "partnership". Ever since the NRV Olympic Team was established, this has been a core term for all involved. The team's partners/sponsors ensure financial backing and for their part profit by their close association with the team. They enjoy "live" presence at such events like Kiel Week. Sailors in the NRV Olympic Team display the flags of both the NRV and its partners/sponsors at lectures and product presentations. This is sponsorship in the best sense, conveying the team's message to the outside world and enabling the NRV Olympic Team to be financed independently of the club's membership fees.

The next great objective for the NRV Olympic Team is the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, with sailing being staged in Weymouth. Prior to that date much remains to be done and to be gained – and that above all includes experience.

In this sense and that of everybody alike: Share the Spirit!