The Road to the 2008 Olympics

Margaret Bonds Podlich, Vice President of Government Affairs for BoatU.S., has made the 2006 U.S. Sailing team along with skipper Carol Cronin and fellow crewmember Kim Couranz. From now thru January 2008 the trio will compete against three other American teams vying for the one Yngling class spot on the U.S. Olympic team. (There are nine classes of sailing vessels in the games).

Bonds Podlich was also formerly Director of the BoatU.S. Foundation's clean water programs for 11 years before joining the association's Government Affairs team in September 2005. A life-long competitive sailboat racer, Bonds Podlich was a nationally ranked collegiate sailor at Tulane University and has competed in five Rolex Women's International Keelboat Regattas and three BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup competitions. She accepted an invitation to join the Cronin team earlier this year in its quest to reach sailing's pinnacle, the U.S. Olympic team, which will be announced by the U.S. Olympic Committee in January 2008. Being named to the U.S. Sailing team is the first step towards that goal.

Most recently the team competed at the Yngling Women's World Championship in France and captured seventh place out of 35 teams. It was only the second regatta in which the ladies had sailed together – while most other teams had been training for a year or more.

“I am very honored that Carol asked me join her team and hope we'll go far as a team,” said Podlich. “I am getting incredible support from home, work, family and friends. I am still pinching myself to make sure this is real – it's not often an opportunity like this comes around. The three of us are having so much fun sailing together that we keep asking ourselves what took us so long to get us all on the same boat.”

While Cronin helms the 21-foot keelboat, Bonds Podlich holds the foredeck position handling jib duties and helps with tactics. Couranz, who also has sailed with Bonds Podlich for over 15 years, is the boat's “trimmer,” trying to get every last bit of power out of the rig and spinnaker.

In August, the ladies will travel to the Olympic sailing site in Qingdao, China to compete in the Olympic test event that will follow the games' ten-race protocol that is capped by a final medal race.

Bonds Podlich and her husband Steve, daughter Sophie (age 10) and son Ben (age 6) reside in Annapolis, MD. For more information or for sponsorship opportunities, go to http://www.TeamCronin.org