Proud mothers all over America are preparing to watch sons and daughters head for the 2008 Olympics in August.
In Point Loma, two of those mothers ” Jerelyn Biehl and Sherri Campbell ” sit five feet apart in the business they run together, bursting with pride.
One son, Graham Biehl, 21, will sail the 470 class with crew Stu McNay of Boston; the other son, Andrew Campbell, 24, will race singlehanded in his Laser class.
Graham and Andrew both attended Silver Gate Elementary School, where their mothers worked together on the PTA. Graham and Andrew came up in the junior sailing program at San Diego Yacht Club.
Their mothers went into business together four years ago at OneDesign Management, doing the administrative work for sailing associations around the country and the world.
They watched together as their sons worked their way through the Olympic trials in October. Now they prepare together to set off for China.
“You know, the odds of this to work out this way are unbelievable,” said Sherri Campbell.
Her business partner agrees.
“It wasn’t until both of us came in after the trials and it dawned on me. I looked at Sherri and I said, ‘What would have happened if one of our kids hadn’t made it?'” said Jerelyn.
That wasn’t likely to happen, with boatloads of sailing history in both families.
Jerelyn was a competitor herself, who went to her first regattas in her mother’s womb, and then sailed with her sons before they were born. Her parents ran Sailing Supply on Canon Street for several generations of Point Loma sailors.
Jerelyn is an U.S. Olympic Sailing Committee member. Her brother-in-law, Mark Reynolds, who is Graham’s uncle, has won two gold medals and a silver.
Sherri sailed when she was young and her husband, Bill, sailed in three America’s Cups. They moved to San Diego for the America’s Cup in the mid-1990s.
“Having gone through one that did go well and one that didn’t, it was a rollercoaster,” Sherri said. “You never get used to the emotional level of it. But having gone through huge events before, you do expect it to be a huge ordeal.”
Jerelyn agrees with the sentiment.
“It’s big,” said Jerelyn. “I’ve sailed in a lot of championships and, sure, there is a lot of pressure. It’s hard for us sometimes to think of our boys as men ” it’s your kid ” but all of a sudden, I saw this very serious person taking it very seriously and very professionally.”
They will be there in Tsingdao, China, in August and expect to watch from the shore, if they are lucky.
They don’t expect to have any contact with their sons as the Games progress.
“Their sails will just have a USA, and then when they put the spinnaker up, it will just have the American flag. So with binoculars we should be able to catch sight of them,” said Sherri.
Until then, the women marvel about the odds that two mothers from Point Loma, who work five feet apart, would share this Olympic dream together.