Dennis Conner
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Sailing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 1976 | Tempest Class | |
Dennis Conner is one of the world's most famous and successful racing sailors, having competed and been successful in Olympic events, the America's Cup, many different offshore races, and having won the Star Worlds on two occasions - once winning every race.
Conner won the America's Cup four times, in 1974, 1980, 1987 and 1988, but was also the first man to ever lose the famed cup to a challenger in 1983 (the America's Cup always previously being won by the American team defending the Cup for the New York Yacht Club), as well as the first man to lose it twice. The first loss and subsequent win allowed Connor to claim the Cup for his home yacht club, the San Diego Yacht Club.
From 1987 through to 2003 Conner was skipper of the legendary Stars & Stripes boats. He also owns a shop, named Team Dennis Conner Team Shop. Within the Yachting community, Conner is most famous for fundamentally changing the America's Cup, and racing in general, from an amateur to professional status. Before the 1980 America's Cup competitors were mostly volunteers who took time off to compete. Mr. Conner insisted on year round training with a new focus on physical fitness and on-the-water practice. This change in approach led to a return to professional crews in sailing, which had hardly been seen since the 1930's.
In 1989, Conner was a guest on the first ever TV segment of the New Zealand news show "Holmes" (with Paul Holmes). After being provoked, Conner politely walked off the show, providing Holmes with headlines the next day.[1]
Sponsored by software company Computer Associates among others, Conner was a rare non-billionaire fielding a team to compete in the 2003 America's Cup, held in New Zealand, receiving funding of up to USD $40 million from his sponsors. His syndicate, Stars & Stripes, suffered a severe setback before they departed California when one of the two Stars & Stripes boats (USA-77) sank when its rudder post failed during training. Eventually repaired, they were unable to recover the valuable testing time lost and they were defeated in the quarter-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup. 2003 marked Conner's last participation in the America's Cup.
He is known to be an approachable competitor who likes signing autographs for his fans. He is often referred to as "Mr. America's Cup".[citation needed]
[edit] Accomplishments
- Won four America’s Cups
- Won a Bronze medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics (with Conn Findlay) in the Tempest class
- Held Trans-Atlantic and Newport-to-Ensenada elapsed time records
- 2 Star Class World Championships (winner of every race in Kiel Germany with 89 boats)
- 4 Southern Ocean Racing Conferences wins
- 2 Congressional Cups
- 3 Etchell World’s (plus long periods ranked No. 1 Internationally)
- 2 Whitbread Round the World races
- Twice a member of the U.S. Admirals Cup team
- Commodore San Diego Yacht Club 1985
- 3 TIME US Yachtsman of the Year
- US Sailing Hall of Fame
- America's Cup Hall of Fame
- 7 time San Diego Yachtsman of the Year
- 1987 ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year
- Author of 9 books (Comeback, Art of Winning, No Excuse to Lose, Sail Like a Champion, History of the America's Cup)
- Winner 28 World Championships
