Shirley Robertson isn’t just a Scottish Olympic legend.  She is a Worldwide Olympic legend.  In winning gold at two consecutive Olympics, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, she became the first British woman to do so, and only the second woman ever.

Add to that the fact that she won medals in two different sailing events, the first an individual and the second a team race, makes her achievement all the more incredible.  She is officially the greatest female Olympic sailor in history. 

And she’s at No. 2, you ask?  Quite why she hasn’t made it to the top spot may confuse some of you – but we’re afraid you will just have to wait until next month to find out why!!

Anyway, onto Shirley, our legend of the moment.  Back in the 1970s, aged 7 years old, Shirley embarked upon her first adventure at the helm of a vessel, in a craft built by her father, on Loch Ard in the Trossachs.  A decade later or so, in her late teens she had a moment of inspiration at the breakfast table that would eventually lead to her becoming the hero she is today.

“I remember watching the Scottish sailor Mike McIntyre when he won a gold medal in 1988, in Seoul, and I was sitting at my Mum’s breakfast table.  It was just a 30 second clip on TV of Mike winning his medal.  He grew up in Helensburgh, and I thought to myself, ‘Well if Mike can do it, then so can I!’ I suppose that got me going,” Shirley told In The Winning Zone at the Hilton Hotel in Ingliston, Edinburgh.

“Then the real clarity came when I went to the Barcelona games in 1992.  I remember watching the medal ceremony and thinking that I wanted to do it properly and be participating the next time I come to these games, standing in the middle of that podium singing my national anthem. I wanted it to be me and that was the real clarity.  Before I wasn’t so keen, there were always other things like boys and college, always distractions, but from that moment I knew my path from then on.”

Indeed she did.  And Shirley remained true to her world.  By 1996, in Atlanta, she was participating at the sharp end of the Olympic Games after a disappointing showing in Barelona.  Unfortunately, she just missed the podium.  But it gave her a taste, and the motivation to come back better and stronger.

“I worked really hard with the resources I had and went to Atlanta, the next games, and finished just outside the medals in fourth place.  I was devastated. In some ways it meant too much to me, and in some ways I worked too hard, I wanted it too much. In my sport you have to be relaxed.  I remember coming off the start line in my first race and I couldn’t stop my legs shaking, I wanted that gold medal so much. It wasn’t until after that, that I realised how I had to approach my sport. That’s why in Sydney I approached it very differently.”

Some say that Shirley actually practiced too hard for Atlanta, that she let the desire to in get into her head too much.  But, racing single-handedly in a Europe class yacht, Shirley made sure that things would indeed be done differently for the 2000 Games.  Shirley led from the start in Sydney, and built what some thought was an unassailable lead (pun not intended).  But, as the event progressed, much like in Atlanta, her mental strength was tested to the limit.

On the final day she could only muster a 16th place finish, and allowed her rival, the Dutch sailor Margriet Matthysse, to catch up with her, with only five points between them and only one race to go.  Shirley need to place fourth to ensure the win, and pushed all the way to eventually claim a third pace, making certain she became the first Scottish woman to ever win a gold sailing medal for Scotland.

As ever, she is modest about her astounding achievement: “In Sydney I felt a bit of a fraud, standing there on my own with a gold medal, because it had been such a team effort.  So many people gave up so much.  At that time in Sydney I never would have won without the coach that I had. We had such respect for each other and such determination to make it happen.”

Four years on and Shirley was back at the Olympics, no doubt to the dismay of her rivals.  But this time she had a few friends.  Dubbed as ‘three blondes in a boat,’ Shirley, with her golden locks and fellow light haired crew mates Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb, sailed to victory in the Yngling class.  It made Olympic history as the girl from Menstrie collected her second medal. 

However, although the medal made Robertson a unique individual, this was very much a team effort.  And, with Yngling being an expensive and difficult event to compete in, their victory was all the more glorious considering how much they struggled in the lead-up to Athens.

“We had no money, crew missing and we didn’t have a boat but between us, but we made it happen. Ian Walker, who worked with me in Sydney, joined us, and he was certainly the fourth member of the team. You can’t do it on your own - you need help. We were all single handed sailors, and there we were all together in a boat and we didn’t know how to sail it! And I was much older than the others.  There were all sorts of conflicts and issues.

“When you complete on your own and you mess up, then you’re cross with yourself.  But when you are in a team you feel the responsibility for the team which is really hard to deal with. But the victory is so much sweeter!  I think we only ever sailed well together at the Olympics.  It was the only time that we had communicated well together, we were going fast and it worked!”

Three blondes, two medals, one legend.  Shirley Robertson, In The Winning Zone salutes you.

RO
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The countdown continues...

5. Eric Liddell and Dick McTaggart
4. Allan Wells and Chris Hoy
3. David Wilkie
2. Shirley Robertson
1. ????