Sailing superstar Eilidh McIntyre seeks to take Women's America's Cup home to Portsmouth after Olympic triumph
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“With being in Portsmouth, it’s so hard not to be inspired to be a sailor”
Decorated Team GB sailor Eilidh McIntyre is hoping to inspire the children of Portsmouth after making her childhood Olympic dreams a reality.
The Hayling Island athlete had her eyes cast on a gold medal since she was eight-years-old. Alongside Hannah Mills, Eilidh won the 470 class sailing competition at the delayed Tokyo 2020 games.
Now she’s focusing on Women's America's Cup glory more than half a decade on from her greatest triumph. She’s at the helm of the commercial arm of British Athena Pathway team, securing sponsorships and funding ahead of the competition in Naples in 2027. Her former teammate Hannah will be competing alongside Ellie Aldridge and other top sailors.
“With being in Portsmouth, it’s so hard not to be inspired to be a sailor,” the Olympian told The News. “We're so closely connected to the sea and we have an amazing new waterfront being done now. It’s so hard not to want to be on the water every time you walk past.
“Our major goal is to bring the cup home for Great Britain and bring it home to Portsmouth. I don’t like to count the chickens until they hatch though. Even our Olympic party was very hush hush until we knew it was happening. I have no doubt the celebrations will be something big.”
Achieving a childhood dream
Eilidh was inspired to follow in her father’s footsteps. Her dad, Michael McIntyre, won gold in the star class sailing competition at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Eilidh was first out on the water on a catamaran with her dad when she was just eight months old.
As she grew older, the Mayville High School pupil threw herself into training and pushed through years of sacrifices and setbacks to achieve her goal. In support of the 1851 Trust - the official charity of the British America’s Cup team - she spoke to schoolchildren at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on Monday (April 20) in the hopes of inspiring them to achieve anything they set their mind to.
“The most amazing thing about speaking to young kids of that age is I so vividly remember being eight-years-old and my obsession of winning an Olympic gold medal,” Eilidh added. “I couldn’t imagine life without achieving that. I lived and breathed it from that moment. I was obsessed with it.
“Not every child is like that though. What I want people to understand and pass on is that you can do anything if you want it, if you believe in yourself and push through the setbacks and keep going. I want children to believe they can be anything they want to be.”
It took Eilidh 12 years of campaigning and full-time sailing before being given her chance at the Olympics. Her career saw her take numerous podiums at the 470 World Championships - winning silver in 2017 and gold in 2019 alongside her compatriot Sophie Weguelin. Looking back on her journey, the sailor remembers countless times she stumbled and had to pick herself up again.
She said: “When your dad has an Olympic gold medal, you can believe in anything. It gave me that unwavering determination to push through and do it. My journey was fraught with setbacks: injuries, illnesses, being ranked number one in the world but not being good enough to go to the Olympics.
“It was a really hard trial, but I learnt from every single setback and pushed through and got better. I realised I wasn’t ready before 2020. I went to the Olympics at the exact time I was supposed to, and I turned up as the exact athlete as I wanted to be.
“That made winning that gold medal better than it would have been beforehand. One of the hardest things in life is to pick yourself up after something goes wrong. I hope those kids know that success doesn’t just grow on a tree . It comes from hard work, determination, passion, and obsession.”
Eilidh regularly works alongside the 1851 Trust, a charity that supports young people with STEM education through sport. She pairs this alongside her America’s Cup training, and believes all the hard work will payoff.
“We’re pushing forward in the right direction,” she added. “We’re doing all the right things. You can never be truly confident you’ll win, but you can put all the right things in place to do it.”