Imagine being present at the greatest spectacle on the planet. Imagine watching the world’s greatest athletes parade before you, as the globe’s attention focuses in on this moment. Imagine telling your friends and younger generations that you were there. That you saw it. Now imagine being at the center of it all.
This past summer, Ragna Agerup ’20 was at the center of the world. As a member of Norway’s Olympic sailing team, she had the unimaginably precious chance to walk among the world’s athletic giants at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Emerging from the tunnel, as Rio’s raucously energetic Maracanã stadium opened up before Agerup and her teammates (including her twin sister Maia), she came within the world’s focus. “I will never forget the moment when we walked into the arena,” Agerup says. I don’t think that I would either.
But the experience was not a gift. Agerup sacrificed a regular lifestyle to qualify as an Olympic sailor. A multi-sport athlete, her first love was not sailing. She began at the age of eight, but she admits that, “When I was young, I didn’t really like sailing.” She was attracted to soccer and cross-country skiing, which were more fun and less time-consuming. But then her competitive spirit kicked in. Agerup is always quick to admit that she is a “very competitive person,” which is of course is necessary to become an Olympian. That competitive adrenaline helped to steer her towards sailing, as she realized that this sport was her best chance to succeed at a high level. Any sport becomes fun when you start winning.
When she turned fifteen and began to sail with her sister, Agerup says that “sailing became a bigger part of my life.” But it certainly came at a cost. Working up the ranks to higher and higher levels, Agerup’s life became one of constant travel. To become the best, she had to compete at international regattas and sail year-round. To no one’s surprise, sailing is not easy in the heart of Norwegian winters. Most sailors have to deal with regular travel to compete, but plane rides are more numerous “especially in Norway, because in the winter we have to go overseas.”
Facing long flights, jet lag and pressure to perform academically, Agerup has a lot on her plate. Though she went to a sports high school that accommodated students’ extended travelling by supplying extra tutoring, Agerup remembers that it was “really hard to learn by myself.”
In addition to the academic irregularities that Agerup faced competing for the national team was, simply put, “very stressful.” Agerup explained that the Norwegian Olympic Committee does not function like most other national bodies. For Norway, “results are not everything.” Whereas other nations determine sailing qualifiers on a points-based system from the results of specific regattas, the committee in Norway takes a more holistic approach. This approach is what Agerup feared would jeopardize her chance to qualify for the 2016 Games. Since both Agerup sisters are young compared to other Norwegian sailors, they feared that the committee would select more experienced members.
But Agerup’s fears were rendered moot when she and her sister qualified for the Rio Olympics only four months before the Opening Ceremony. Through the stress and despite the fact that they only had a short period of time to prepare, both sisters were understandably “very happy and very relieved.”
As a sailor, Agerup had unique insight into the global criticism of Rio’s Olympic preparations, as the water in Guanabara Bay failed multiple health tests. Agerup says that these criticisms, at first, were warranted. She and the Norwegian team travelled to Rio a few months before the Games to train and acclimate to the conditions. What she and her teammates saw was not pretty: “There was so much rubbage in the water and things floating around. There were dead dogs and everything.” Beyond the gruesome images, she also says that multiple sailors became sick during the training period. She herself survived without incident.
But when the team returned for the actual Games in August, everything had been cleaned up. “They really pulled it together before the Games,” she says, but the cleanliness was really just a veneer covering up deeper problems. Agerup found that many in Rio were complaining because the clean-up was “very short term.” When the IOC awarded Rio with the 2016 Games, many of the city’s residents “were hoping that it would be a long-term solution. But they only cleaned out the bay for that one month before the Games.”
While in the host city, Agerup and her team were able to interact with locals, mainly those who volunteered to escort teams to and from events. Because the Olympic Village was far from the bay, the team stayed in a complex nearer to the sailing venue. And yet, mainly thanks to these volunteers, everything ran smoothly. After the worrisome first impression, Agerup found that during the Games, “Rio was above my expectations. Everything was in order and the transportation was easy.”
In actual competition, the Agerup sisters sailed in the women’s 49erFX races, which are comprised of two-person dinghies. Out of the twenty international teams, and after twelve races, they placed fourteenth with 132.00 net points.
And less than a month after the Olympics, Ragna arrived in New London. Connecticut College attracted her because of the campus’ beauty, but also because “the sailing house is close to the school.” Bordering the Thames River is certainly an advantage. But how does the program here compare to her international sailing experience? “The only difference,” Agerup says, “is the level of competition.” The team atmosphere is quite a change from sailing solely with her sister. Her innate “very competitive” attitude was challenged a bit because “Here we’re a team and everyone is rooting for everyone. We’re not competing against each other.”
After years of stress, time, and energy to achieve the Olympic dream, she is now in a more collective environment. It was actually hard for Agerup at first to be both “competitive and nice at the same time.” But she enjoys it. Conn’s sailing team, she believes, has “a really nice dynamic.” And she is excited for her next three years, especially because “We’ve had a lot of progress already this season.” And she has played a large part in that. Agerup led the women’s team this past weekend in Charleston, SC, where they finished eighth at the Atlantic Coast Championship. The same weekend, the co-ed team won the Atlantic Coast Tournament at the Naval Academy. Things are certainly looking up for the program.
And things are looking up for Agerup as well. Though not booking travel arrangements to Tokyo yet, the 2020 Olympics are in sight. She and her sister (who sails at Roger Williams University) will reunite in January to compete at the annual World Cup in Miami, which is one of many steps to return to the Games. If they do make Norway’s sailing team again, participation will not be enough—her goal will be a medal. At her first Olympics, Agerup could enjoy being there, but if there is a next time, she knows that “We’re not there just to participate anymore.”
