At just 18 years of age, Caymanian Jasper Nielsen has set sail on a four-year pilgrimage to achieve his lifelong goal of being an Olympic medalist.
Nielsen who is hell-bent on making his dream a reality told the Compass that he has decided not to pursue school and solely focus on dedicating his “mind, soul and body” to the sport of sailing.
“Winning a gold medal for Cayman is my top priority,” Nielsen, who has been sailing since he was 10 years old, said. “This is my life goal, and I’ve changed my nutrition, I train hours on the water and hours cycling.”
Currently, Nielsen is in the Canary Islands, off the coast of northwest Africa, where he has been going for the past three years to get training from world-class coaches.
“So, I’m here for two months and I have been training every single day,” he said. “It’s been pretty intense, every day waking up early, getting to the gym. Depending on the wind, we have different times of getting in the water, but it’s more of a mental shift than anything else because it’s hard, but that’s life.”
When Nielsen returns home, he will continue his training, using only the notes he gathered while away – something he said has helped him financially, as he’s not paying for coaching in Cayman.
Hard work above all
“Coaching is expensive…,” he said. “I write everything down in my notebook that I learn here, and I take that and use it at home.”
Many people believe that success in a sport like sailing is only feasible if the sailor is from a wealthy family or has a sponsor. Though Nielsen admitted that the latter will be needed at some point, he stressed the importance of hard work above all.
“It doesn’t matter how much money you have; you just have to be a hard worker. A lot of the athletes didn’t get to where they are because they have money. They got there because they worked their a** off, and I think it’s super important for the younger generation to know that and not be discouraged.”
His strategy of training on his own, without using local coaches, but sometimes alongside sailors like Olympian Charlotte Webster, has worked for him as he is currently the highest-ranked male sailor from Cayman.
“I go out and train, and I’m still competing at a high level because the main thing for me is focusing on what I can control, trusting God and hope for the best.”
Recently, Nielsen won the Cayman Nationals, and placed 32nd out of over 60 athletes at the ISAF Youth World Championships – the highest male placement for the nation at those games.
He also competed at the British Nationals, the Dutch Youth Nationals where he finished fifth, and the ILCA 6 Youth & Men’s World Championships, where he competed in the gold fleet.
His list of accomplishments is a testament to what he calls hard work and the desire to help build sailing, which was once a prominent sport in Cayman.
“It’s a huge part of history,” he said, adding that he hopes to add chapters of his own to the Olympic legacy of Cayman for people to look back on, as is the case for pioneer sailors Gerry Kirkconnell and Carson Ebanks.
“I really like being the best in my country and I want to be the best in the world,” he said. “I want to be the first Caymanian sailor to win a medal at the Olympics and the goal will be to win gold.”
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