By David Pendered

Aug. 16 – Watch out for Daniela Moroz in the LA28 Olympic Regatta. Moroz races a kiteboard and represents the type of “fire in the belly” sailor the US Sailing Team hopes will win medals.

For spectators, the 2028 Summer Olympics are distant. For competitors, qualifying competitions have started and the US director of Olympic Sailing said sailors’ performance in a regatta in Spain that ended in April “determines their funding and team status.”

Plenty of pressure there. Especially given that team status confers access to health insurance through the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. An Olympics campaign is a full-time job, for the training and fund-raising, travel and racing.

A month before the regatta in Spain, Moroz blogged about the status of her own fire. She deconstructed her fourth-place finish in the Paris 2024 Games. One way to read the post, dated February, is to imagine that she’s thought deeply about how expectations differ from reality. Another thought – she won’t peak too early. Here’s a snippet of her latest post on the past Olympics:

• “My fire has dimmed, but it’s still burning somewhere deep inside. My motivation to come back stronger and better than ever has only sky-rocketed, and I’ve already been spending the last few months laying the groundwork for my LA 2028 campaign. I have unfinished business, but I also know I still have more to give in this sport and in my professional athletic career.”

Moroz finished sixth in the Spanish race. She’ll be 28 years old when the LA Games take place, and the perspectives she shares in her blog seem shaped in part by the disappointments with the Paris regatta: The wind failed to materialize, organizers were criticized for the management of poor race conditions, and the scoring system came under question.

Moroz’s fourth-place finish wasn’t at all in keeping with anyone’s expectations going into the Games, starting with a first place in the French Olympic Week Regatta held in the Olympic waters off Marseille. Her trophies at that time included six consecutive Kite Foil World Championship titles and she’d been named Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year four times, the first in 2016 making her the youngest recipient of the nation’s prestigious sailing recognition, the first female kiteboarder, and second kiteboarder to ever receive the award. She won a gold in the 2023 Pan Am Games and is a four-time Open European Champion.

Those victories aside, Moroz’s post makes clear her outlook that what matters is what happens today.

LA28

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