Buckingham makes dream come true, named to U.S. Olympic Sailing Team

For the past four years, you could say Brazil has been on Charlie Buckingham’s mind. Well, more specifically, the Rio Olympics have occupied Buckingham’s thoughts and efforts.

It was only four years ago that the sailor’s bid for the London Olympics was denied. Instead he went to the London Games as a coach to Virgin Islands Laser sailor Cy Thompson to gain much-needed Olympic experience.

This time around, Buckingham, the former Newport Harbor High standout, is going to the Olympics as a U.S. sailor, it was announced Friday.

Buckingham, in the Laser class, has earned selection to the Rio U.S. Olympic Sailing Team based on the results of the US Sailing Olympic Athlete Selection Series in the men’s one-person dinghy.

Buckingham, the Laser North American champion, has been the top U.S. athlete in this class for four years, and has represented the United States at the Pan American Games and during two test events at the 2016 Olympic venue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He began his Olympic quest after starring at Georgetown, where he was a two-time College Sailor of the Year (2009, 2011).

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was probably 10 years old,” Buckingham said in a press release. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last four years, since the last trials, and so today’s a special day.”

Buckingham’s past four years have been filled with intense training days, traveling and fundraising efforts to keep his Olympic dream alive.

During the past four years, Buckingham took on various types of workouts, even training with a triathlon competitor.

Now he’s ready to compete for Team USA.

“I’m definitely more experienced, and I have four years of preparation behind me, so it’s been quite different,” Buckingham said. “I basically went into the last trials with no preparation. I had four years of college sailing, but no full-time Olympic experience. This time around, I felt like I was ready for it.”

Buckingham said in the press release that the Selection Series, and its final stage at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia (March 25-April 2) in Palma de Mallorca, Spain proved to be a challenge. He has consistently exceeded his US Sailing Team Sperry (national team) teammates during the Rio 2016 quadrennium, but there was something about Spain that pushed him.

“I felt like I had to put extra attention into making sure I didn’t make big mistakes to put myself out of the event,” Buckingham said. “It was definitely a stressful week at times, but I’m glad the result went my way.”

Buckingham entered the regatta in Spain with an eight-point lead over his closest U.S. competitor, national team sailor Erik Bowers.

Soon, he’ll be competing against the world at the Olympics.