Jolanta Ogar wavered about competing in Tokyo. And last time she was on the Olympic stage, the out sailor represented a different country.
How quickly life can change.
Ogar and her partner, Agnieszka Skrzypulec, won silver Thursday for Team Poland in the women’s two-person dinghy, finishing behind Great Britain’s Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre. Mills, who’s won two gold medals and one silver over the last three Games, is now the most successful female Olympic sailor of all-time.
But Ogar and Skrzypulec’s effort was impressive. They moved up to fourth in the final leg to become equal on points with France. Poland wound up taking silver and France won bronze. (The French team of Camille Lecointre and Aloise Retornaz is protesting the race, alleging that the British crew engaged in team racing to help Poland.)
This is Ogar’s third Olympics. She represented Poland at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but then switched the following year to represent Austria, per Olympics.com. She raced for Team Austria at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she and her partner finished 12th.
In 2017, she went back to representing Poland on the international stage, and reunited with her sailing partner, Skrzypulec.
But Ogar wasn’t sure she would return to the Olympic stage. She says she thought about retiring.
“There was a moment in my life that I even thought about ending my career,” she said in 2020, via Olympics.com. “But I thought that as long as my health allowed me, I would continue sailing, and I hope to compete at the Olympics in Tokyo. They will probably be my last Games. I started my adventure with sailing as a Polish woman and I want to finish it this way.”
Well, a silver medal is a pretty sweet way to go out. And the best part is, Ogar can celebrate her triumph with her wife. The couple posts openly on social media.
Ogar is one of three out LGBTQ athletes to represent Poland in this year’s Games. Her silver is the 22nd medal for Team LGBTQ.
