Olympian homecoming

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 8/25/16

Warwick's own Louisa Chafee walked down the steps at T.F. Green Airport on Tuesday afternoon and was embraced warmly by family and friends. Awaiting the U.S. Olympian sailor were her parents, former Gov. Lincoln Chafee and

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Olympian homecoming

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Warwick’s own Louisa Chafee walked down the steps at T.F. Green Airport on Tuesday afternoon and was embraced warmly by family and friends.

Awaiting the U.S. Olympian sailor were her parents, former Gov. Lincoln Chafee and his wife Stephanie, as well as a family friend of 17 years, Faylee Manangan, and Mayor Scott Avedisian.

The greeting was encouraging for Louisa, who had just endured a long flight back from Rio De Janeiro, which featured a pair of stops before landing in Warwick.

And that welcome was certainly well-deserved.

After all, she and skipper Bora Gulari represented the United States superbly, battling until the end and coming back to take fourth in the Nacra 17 medal race while capturing eighth overall.

Although a mishap in an earlier race may have cost Chafee and Gulari a chance to medal, the experience was invaluable for the local standout.

“It was a strong finish – the entire experience was definitely surreal,” Louisa said. “Just being on a world stage, I’ve obviously never encountered anything of that magnitude before. We sailed such an incredible regatta, especially after that equipment failure, we ended up finishing that day with a four. From there on out, we never finished outside of the top 10. Everything was so in sync and amazing.”

The whole experience was surreal for Lincoln Chafee, as well, who was in awe of his daughter for how she handled herself on the world’s biggest stage.

“It took a while to sink in,” Chafee said of his daughter being an Olympian. “To be down there and seeing her walk around with a lanyard that said ‘Olympian,’ it just gave me enormous pride.”

Louisa will bring even more pride to her family if she can become a two-time Olympian – a goal that she has already set her sights on.

Although the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are a distant thought for many, they’re already at the forefront of Louisa’s mind.

“It’s a long way away, but we want to be serious medal contenders come 2020, so that means winning some world championships and World Cups along the way,” Louisa said.

The current plan is to lay low for a while and rest – something that Louisa has earned after the stressful roller coaster ride that she’s persevered through in recent months.

“I’m just going to rest,” Louisa said when asked what she planned on doing in the coming weeks. “I’m excited to spend time with my family and take a month where I actually don’t think about sailing or racing.”

After that, she plans to move to Miami and begin training for the 2020 Olympics, where she intends to put on some more muscle and get stronger to prepare.

A lot could happen in four years, but Chafee is hoping to continue competing with her current skipper, Gulari, as the pair would love another crack at a medal.

Louisa, at least, is confident that if the duo is there in Toyko, it would be sporting some hardware upon its return to the United States.

“If we’re able to stay together, we’d win gold,” Louisa said. “We could have been in medal contention this time around – a few things slightly different, and we could’ve been right up there in the top five fighting with those other teams. Give us four more years together and we’ll have a medal around our neck, and it’s going to be a shiny, gold one.”

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