Sailing
Jimmy Spithill and Team Oracle USA pulled off the greatest comeback in sporting history to claim the biggest prize in sailing.
The big picture:
We’ve all been there. The big moment, the big opportunity, the big goal you’ve been working towards for so long is right there in front of you and it’s all going wrong.
That’s the situation Team Oracle USA's Jimmy Spithill found himself in as his team slumped to an 8-1 deficit against Team New Zealand – just one more setback away from a humiliating defeat in the America’s Cup finals of 2013. Despite their best efforts in a long and expensive preparation phase, they'd been outpaced by a rival that seemed to have better teamwork and slicker skills.
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The brutal truth:
“You never really know going into the America’s Cup how you stack up against the other guy,” Spithill recalled. “You spend a lot of time watching them, learning from them, but you never really know until you line up for the first race. I knew they were gonna be tough, but man, I was shocked that they were so strong and how quickly it escalated for us to find ourselves on the back foot.”
The fightback:
As New Zealand moved towards one more win of the title, Spithill and his team were inspired by the relentless efforts of the technical team working furiously behind the scenes to eke out more speed from the boat – and slowly but surely, they fought their way back to parity and a final deciding race.
“There’s times when the guys run out of gas, the tank gets empty, but you have to ask them to find something, and ask them for more. Every single time they delivered. It was actually frightening in the last race as they stepped it up another gear. I honestly thought they were gonna break something. They were like a pack of wild animals.”
The emotion:
So how did it feel once that race had been won? “It was pure ecstasy… everything rolled into one… relief. It’s very difficult to put into words, but it’s exactly why you go through the blood, sweat and tears for four years. It’s so addictive.”
What happened next?
Oracle weren’t able to complete a potential hat-trick in 2017, but Spithill will be back in the America’s Cup to take on his old rivals from New Zealand, this time with Luna Rossa, when the event returns in 2021.
Watch the video for the full story of the comeback – and check out more inspirational moments in the links below.
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