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Mark Reynolds
|Star
Home|
  Age: 44Hometown: San Diego, Calif. US SAILING TEAM: 1988, 1991-1996, 1998-2000 Member: San Diego Yacht Club Point Loma High School, graduated 1973. San Diego State, graduated 1979, BS. When Mark Reynolds walks into Opening Ceremonies at Sydney’s Olympic Games, he will make U.S. Olympic Yachting history as a four-time consecutive Olympic representative in the same event. Well-known as the "Star of the Star class," Reynolds has the resume to back up the well-deserved nickname – two world championship titles (’00, ’95) and two Olympic medals (’96 Gold, ’88 Silver) – in arguably the most competitive one-design class in the world. Reynolds was introduced to the sport at age four by his father, Jim Reynolds, himself the 1971 Star World Champion (as crew for Dennis Conner). A protégé of Conner’s, Mark started his first Olympic campaign in the Flying Dutchman class. Sailing with Miami's Augie Diaz, Reynolds’ Olympic dreams were sidelined when the US boycotted the 1980 Games. A Star campaign, founded in 1986 with Hal Haenel (Los Angeles, Calif.), earned him three trips to the Olympics. In 1988 Reynolds/Haenel found themselves in the medal hunt in Korea. Unfortunately, their bid for Olympic Gold was undone in the final race of the regatta when a control line failed and their mast came tumbling down in the incredible winds and waves off Pusan. They settled for the Silver Medal. Aware that no American Star sailors had ever repeated as Olympic representatives, Reynolds/Haenel kept their focus for the '92 Olympic Regatta where they never finished worse than third in any race and enjoyed the luxury of being able to sit out the final heat. They returned home from Barcelona with Gold Medals. The challenge of competition fueled their desire to compete in a third Olympics, and Reynolds/Haenel placed 8th out of 25 boats at the 1996 Olympic Regatta in Savannah, Georgia. Reynolds teamed up with Magnus Liljedahl in 1997 with the express goal of winning an Olympic Gold medal. In three years a lot can happen. They won the prestigious Bacardi Cup and the European Championship two years running (’97, ’98), the Spring Championships of the Western Hemisphere (’97), the North Americans (’98), and were runner up at the World Championship (‘97). The top ranked US team for two years, they went into ’99 as the top ranked team in the World. Then tragedy struck in June of ’99 when Magnus’ lovely wife, Agneta, was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer. After a hard battle, she passed away in October of that year. Between June and November of ’99, Reynolds sailed 10 regattas with 11 different crews while Magnus remained by his wife’s side. Reynolds/Liljedahl resumed their training in December and in February took possession of a new boat that Reynolds had overseen the construction of.
SIGNIFICANT
ACHIEVEMENTS: (Click here to link to Mark's personal website.) SAILING RESUME: |
