OLYMPIC SAILING COMMITTEE NAMES
GARY BODIE HEAD OLYMPIC COACH BODIE[1].JPG (15979 bytes)

PORTSMOUTH, RI (September 16, 1998) -- The Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) of US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has announced the appointment of Gary Bodie as head Olympic coach. Bodie, a college sailing coach since 1978, has led 15 teams to victories at the Inter-Collegiate Yacht Racing Association National Championships. Additionally, four sailors under his tutelage have won the prestigious College Sailor of the Year award.

Raised in Hampton, Virginia, Bodie learned to sail as a teen in the Hampton Yacht Club Junior Program. His coaching career was launched in 1978, the day after he graduated from Caltech, when his former summer job teaching sailing at Langley Air Force Base opened the door to a coaching position at nearby Old Dominion University. After eight years at ODU, Bodie went to the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.) where he became head sailing coach. After 10 years at Navy, he moved to Hampton University and initiated the first sailing program at a historically black college. When not coaching, Bodie, a regular on the 505 sailing circuit, sails an F-27 catamaran with his wife and three daughters.

Bodie joins Luther Carpenter (New Orleans, La.) and Skip Whyte (Bristol, R.I.), both US Sailing Team coaches since the early '90s, in carrying out the mission of the OSC: to help members of the US Sailing Team reach the world class level and prepare for competition at the Olympic Games through training on and off the water. The US Sailing Olympic Coaching Program seeks to foster a dedicated training regimen, independent racing skills and individual program management abilities among its sailors -- all skills necessary to succeed at the Olympic Games.