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 8^th 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.

Reynolds has acknowledged that preparing and competing in the Trails this time was challenging. Unlike many sailors who put jobs and school on hold during their Olympic campaigns, this father of three maintains a full-time job. While being his own boss makes somethings easier, as the predominate sailmaker in the Star class with a steadily rising market share, Reynolds had a lot to deal with business wise. Logistical preparations involved getting two boats, five masts and an assortment of sails to San Francisco Bay, site of the 2000 Olympic Trials. Reynolds drove a van from San Diego to San Francisco with one boat, the other was delivered straight from Florida. After arriving they picked up a 29’ motor home to live in on-site at Treasure Island. Avoiding San Francisco’s notorious traffic gave them more time to devote to boat work, as well as to take current readings in preparation for sailing. The Trials ended up being a prefect regatta for Reynolds/Liljedahl who won the regatta by a large margin and did not have to sail the last two races.

SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS:
Star World Champion ('00, '95)
1992 Star Olympic Gold Medalist, Barcelona
1992/89 U.S. Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year for Sailing
1988 Star Olympic Silver Medalist, Pusan
1986 Goodwill Games Gold Medalist, Estonia
1979 Pan Am Games Snipe Gold Medalist
Bacardi Cup Champion ('98, '97, '93, 90, 89, 84)
ICYRA All-American ('75)

(Click here to link to Mark's personal website.)

SAILING RESUME:
2000
Kiel Week, Germany (1st/41 Stars)
Star World Championship, Annapolis (1st/112 boats)
Star Olympic Team Trials, San Francisco (1st/16 boats)
Star Spring Championship, San Francisco (2nd/23 boats)
Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, Fla. (4th/50 Stars)
1999
IBM Sydney Harbour Regatta, Australia (3rd/8 Stars)
Star World Championship, Italy (3rd/129 boats)
Star North Americans, Boston, MA (2nd/36 boats)
Kiel Week, Germany (2nd/49 Stars)
Star Olympic Pre-Trials, San Francisco (1st/17 boats)
Star Spring Championship, Pass Christian, MI (5th/26 boats)
Bacardi Cup, Miami, FL (4th/92 Stars)
Miami OCR (1st/39 Stars)
1998
Star North American Championship, Lake George, NY (1st/37 boats)
Star European Championship, Germany (1st/64 boats)
Star World Championship, Slovenia (24th/97 boats)
King of Spain Regatta, Marina del Rey, CA (3rd/23 Stars)
Rollins Bowl, San Diego (1st/16 Stars)
Bacardi Cup, Miami (1st/66 Stars)
Star Spring Championship, Nassau (2nd/20 boats)
Miami OCR (2nd/16 Stars)
1997
Star European Championship, Sweden (1st/37 boats)
Star Spring Championship, New Orleans (1st/19 boats)
Star World Championship, Marblehead (2nd/71 boats)
1996
Olympic Games, Savannah (8th/25 Stars)
Star Olympic Yachting Trials, Savannah (1st/19 boats)
Star World Championship, Brazil (2nd/61 boats)
1995
Star World Championship, Laredo, Spain (1st/76 boats)
Bacardi Cup, Miami, FL (4th/88 Stars)
1994
Star World Championships, San Diego (10th/97 boats)