Olympic dreams
SECOND CHANCE: Isabella Bertold is navigating toward sailing gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
More stringent concussion protocols have taken the decision on whether to return to the game out of the hands of most professional athletes. But sailor Isabella Bertold never faced a detailed code of procedure after being smacked in the back of the head by another’s boat’s boom in Miami just before the final Canadian team qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Sail Canada, she said, didn’t even have a team doctor.
Bertold, who sails out of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, was leading the trials and in a good position to represent Canada in the women’s laser radial class.
“The general doctors in the hospital in Miami, they advise you to take it easy,” she told The Sun. “I just rolled my eyes and was like, whatever. Without having a team doctor, the decision falls on you.
“I had to make the call myself and I decided to still race. I was thinking I’d put so much in to get to this point, I had a little bit of a buffer — we’ll just see how this goes. I didn’t really appreciate how much the concussion — and it was a bad one — would affect me. It was just a disaster of an event. It took me pretty much the whole rest of the season to get over it.”
The 23- year- old said not qualifying for London was “the best thing that could have happened to my sailing career.”
Two years later, and despite being plagued at times by a series of injuries as a result of a bike crash in Italy in May of last year, she is a threat to become the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic sailing medal at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
It is a goal the aspiring lawyer isn’t afraid to state publicly. It’s not added pressure, she said, if you truly believe in yourself and your ability.
A terrific 2013
Only two Canadian women have ever won a world championship medal in the 29- year history of the laser radial class — gold by Kelly Hand in 1999 and bronze by Carolle Spooner in 1983. Bertold said with unabashed conviction that “I plan to change that in September.”
Had she somehow qualified for London, she said, winning the lottery would have been more realistic than winning a medal there.
“I didn’t accomplish something then that I wanted,” she said, “but I still love the sport. It’s easy to lose perspective on that. I started checking boxes on why I’m doing it. I started this young ( at age five), but I still enjoy it.”
Despite dealing with hip, knee and Achilles pain in her left leg as a result of that bike crash, Bertold had a terrific 2013 season, capping it off with a seventh- place finish at worlds, beating the Olympic medallists in the process, and being named Sail Canada’s female athlete of the year.
“The boat that I sail, the laser radial ( a four- metre one- sail craft) is physically demanding and the body does get worn down a bit,” she said. “Even though I’m just 23, I’ve got a lot of sailing mileage on my body.
“It’s been about finding the right people to manage it and trusting them on when to race and when to train. I’ve got a solid group of people around me now, and feel like everything is going in the right direction.”
Still, a flare- up of injuries from that bike crash forced her to miss the first two World Cups this season. But she was 11th — in a field of 96 — at a World Cup in Mallorca, Spain, in April, then fifth last month at the elite- field Delta Lloyd Regatta in the Netherlands.
In international competitions, points are tallied over seven races staged over a few days. Bertold won once and was third in two other races at the Delta Lloyd. Her worst placing was 13th.
“I’m quite happy with where I’m at,” Bertold said.
Patience is a virtue
One of her strengths, she said, is her patience.
“Physical fitness is a key part,” she said, “but it’s the tactical boat- on- boat stuff, the strategy with the wind — races are an hour long and it’s about executing everything very, very well. You have to be patient and wait for your opportunities and let other people make mistakes. If you get desperate, you fall behind.”
The daughter of a single- parent mom, Isabella swam, participated in track and field, practised karate and played field hockey and golf before settling as a young teen on sailing, a sport that she said put a lot of financial stress on the family.
Equipment, coaching, a support staff consisting of a psychologist, a therapist and a trainer, travel to World Cups and overseas training camps: it all adds up. On her website, where she has a detailed list of benefits for corporate sponsors at different levels, she estimates her yearly budget at $ 120,000.
One term short of securing a bachelor of commerce degree from UBC, Bertold said she’s self- funding part of her Olympic campaign, but said it’s a number that “isn’t scary.”
It’s comparable, she says, to the school loans she would have needed if Sail Canada wasn’t picking up that cost.
While the RVYC and some smaller sponsors provide help, sailing isn’t exactly a high- profile sport in Canada. Many of the top sailors from Europe are either fully funded by government or get the kind of exposure that can more easily attract corporate sponsors.
“It’s definitely hard in Canada,” Bertold said.
“Sailing is not a mainstream sport, although I hope that can change with a couple more good results. In Holland ( last month), I was driving by a billboard that featured one of my competitors. It’s a different situation over there.”
InstaFund signs on
Bertold did, however, land a significant sponsor this year in InstaFund Financial, a Vancouverbased mortgage lender, whose president, Adam Korbin, is a keen sailor and RVYC member.
“We’re a truly local company, and Isabella ties into that,” Korbin said.
“She’s from here. She developed her skills here.”
Korbin said Bertold has the mental strength and the instinct to succeed in the sport.
“It’s not just about whether you can handle the boat around the race course,” he said. “You need to have that sixth sense out there on the water and she’s got it. She’s a gifted athlete.”
Korbin said he also likes how Bertold is going about her campaign for the Olympics from a business sense.
“I’m impressed with how much work it takes to be a competitive athlete,” he said. “It is a full- time job. You have people involved at all levels, from her psychologist to rehab people. It’s a real going concern. She’s essentially running a small company.”
Later this month, Bertold heads to Spain for a training period with an international group that includes sailors from Finland, Sweden, Germany and the U. S. All of it is geared toward worlds, where Bertold will be looking to secure an Olympic spot for Canada with a top- 20 finish.
“There are other opportunities … but the goal is to get it done there,” she said.
“I feel really confident. The race in Holland, things really started to come together. There are a few more things to fine tune before worlds, but I definitely put myself as a strong contender.”