Fast forward three years from London 2012 and Irish sailor Annalise Murphy has her eyes firmly focused on Rio 2016.
The talented sailor has been at the forefront of sailing over the last number of years, with a much-coveted European Championship title under her belt, and we caught up with her this week ahead of the sixth Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta which kicks off from July 9th to 12th and will be an exciting four days of racing in Dublin Bay.
“My love for sailing came from my family,” she explained.
“My whole family sails and my mum went to the Olympics in 1988 sailing, so we were all brought up with it, we were always sailing with my mum and dad from a very young age.
“I didn’t get into racing until I was about 12 but I was always around water or around boats, and I’m really looking forward to the Dun Laoghaire Regatta it’s always nice to get out on the boat at home here again,” she added.
Indeed the last 12 months have been a pretty busy time for the European champion, with races bringing her to all corners of the globe.
“It’s pretty hectic alright,” she acknowledged. “There’s the World Cup circuit during the year. It starts off in the southern hemisphere in winter time and moves into the northern hemisphere during European summer time, so it’s continuous competition from November until the end of August.
“I spend quite a lot of time travelling but a typical week for me when I’m at home in terms of training would be three weight sessions in the gym, a mixture of weights and circuits and a lot of injury prevention stuff, that’s so important.
“On top of that I do a lot of cycling – I really enjoy road biking and the Laser, which is the boat I sail, is physically demanding, especially when it’s windy, so you have to be really fit to sail it.”
“I probably do four cycles per week which would range from interval sessions to four hour endurance cycles.
“I remember when I stated doing it about five or six years ago I used to think ‘Oh, I hate this’ but then you start to get into it and I’ve met quite a few cool people. I cycle all over Dublin, I thought I knew everywhere but it’s been pretty good for my sense of direction and has brought me to a lot of new places that I would never have gone to before.
“On top of that then, I do a bit of running, especially if I’m away and don’t have my bike and then I’m on the water five or six days a week.
“Generally, if I’m by myself on the water I practise my technique, then if I’m with a group we’ll do a lot of speed stuff and practise racing.”
“It can get pretty hectic sometimes, but it’s good! I try to do a few yoga classes every week too – I need to get a bit better at that. I’m pretty sure every day I go they think I’m a first timer, I’m just terrible at it!” she laughed.
“It can get a bit exhausting,” she reflected. “And it’s hard on rest days too because I find it hard to rest and do nothing, I always have so much energy I don’t want to just sit there.
“Getting to travel so much is great though. When events are in Europe, I drive everywhere. In March I drove to Barcelona and got the ferry to Majorca for the first event in Palma. Then I stayed there for a month, and did three weeks of training there and then the actual World Cup event after that.”
“I got one of my best friends to drive down with me, I hate driving by myself it can be a nightmare.
“Especially as you’re driving a right-hand drive and all the tolls are on the left hand side so if you’re on your own, it’s pretty hard.
“Between Barcelona and Nice there’s like 20 tolls and then the toll thinks I’m a truck because I’ve got my boat on the roof rack of my car so it keeps on trying to make me pay and take the ticket from a really high point. So I have to climb over to the other seat and then climb out the window to stand up and get the ticket – that’s why I decided I needed to get someone to help me drive!” she continued with a laugh.
“You get to see everything though. It’s amazing. I’m driving to Denmark soon so that’s another new adventure!”
With all the travelling and races, Annalise admitted that she misses out on a lot of events back home though.
“I remember years ago I missed a lot of 21st birthdays and stuff like that. I remember I used to be disappointed as my friends seemed to all be having a great time, all through college and I had deferred my degree to go full-time sailing.
“Sometimes you think ‘poor me’ missing out on these things. But if you look at it, I’m getting to do something that I really love, that I think I’m good at – sometimes, maybe not – but the majority of times I am.”
“You have to look at these sacrifices properly – at the end of the day I’ve got a great group of friends, they are all really supportive of me and that’s fantastic.
“It can be hard missing out, but you’ve only got a short period in your life where you can be a professional athlete so I feel like I have to try and make the most of it.
“It’s also an incredible experience – I get to travel around the world, I get to spend most of my winters in warmer countries so there are a lot of bonuses!
“It can get really lonely, I’m by myself a lot but still, it’s incredible. Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for myself and what I’m missing out on, but you have to look at the other side of it – all my friends looks at me and say ‘you’re the luckiest person in the world’ ‘you do all these cool things’.”
“I also think they think my life is way more exciting than it actually is! I just get up and train three times a day, eat in between those times, sometimes take a nap in the middle of the day if I’m really tired and then go to sleep in the evening!” she smiled.
“But it’s good. I think it’s all worth it in the end – when I race well and do well in competitions it makes it worthwhile,” she added before reflecting back on London 2012.
“The last three years have been amazing. I can’t believe it’s been three years. I’ve done a lot of good things since the Olympics: I won the European Championships and I’ve won World Cup events since then.”
“It was tough at the time [London]. There’s a lot of ups and downs in sailing – I’d kind of describe it similar to golf a little bit, there will be people who are on form and sailing well but everyone has their ups and downs, it’s very rare that people consistently win competitions.
“If you take the London Olympics, I was pretty young and inexperienced. I didn’t even think I’d be going to the Olympics! The whole thing was such a big experience, it was a real ‘Oh my God I can’t believe I’m here’ moment.
“A lot of the time before the Olympics I was winning eight races of an event – which nobody does – but the problem was then in the other two or three I was coming 40th pulling me right back down the ranking.”
“I’ve learned since then. Now, I’m trying to work on my consistency – if you are consistently doing well in competitions and in races you can secure wins.
“You have to take a little bit less risk, but in sailing you’re not really trying to win every race, you’re trying to finish in the top five in every race and that’s generally going to win you the race or put you in the top three.”
“I think I’m much more experienced now and I can make the boat go faster, it’s trying to put it all together. The problem is one person steps up their game a bit then everyone catches up then a new person gets better than everyone catches up.
“It’s pretty hard. I wish it was a case that now it’s three years later I’m three years better than everyone, that’d be the dream, but unfortunately it’s not like that.”
“Now I’m looking to the European Championships in Denmark than an Olympic test event in Rio in August, before the World Championships in November.
“It’s hard to pick out one stand-out moment of my career but winning the European Championships was special. They were here in Ireland, in Dun Laoghaire, it’s where I sail, it’s where I grew up sailing, so that was a pretty good moment.
“I will always remember that as something that was pretty special for me. Every chance that I win a race though I get such a good feeling, it’s the best in the world. I’ve got a lot of highlights.”
“The first few days of the Olympics too was a cool moment in my life – I won the first four races of the Olympics and that’s my claim to fame.
“Now I can’t wait to get back on the water at the weekend at the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, it’s going to be an amazing event and I’m really looking forward to it!” she concluded.
The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta takes place from Thursday 9th July until Sunday 12th July 2015. For more information see www.dlregatta.org or find Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Facebook and Twitter.
