Olympic sailor Saskia Tidey who has competed for both Ireland and Britain says she didn’t know her father, Don Tidey, had been kidnapped until she was a teenager looking up her family name on a computer at school
In an interview with David Walsh of The Sunday Times, Tidey says she has drawn inspiration from how her father, now 89, has lived his life.
Tidey, a Dublin-based British businessman, was abducted by the IRA and held hostage for 23 days until he was rescued in December 1983.
Private Patrick Kelly and trainee recruit Garda Gary Sheehan both died in the shoot-out with the IRA.
Tidey had lost his first wife Jan to cancer three years before. The father of three married Barbara Dunne three years later and Saskia was his fourth and her first child.
As Walsh reports, Tidey (31) is the most experienced woman on the British sailing team with Freya Black in the 49er FX class and the pair “have every chance of being on the Olympic podium”.
After the Olympics, Tidey will be on the British team for first ever women’s America’s Cup.
Royal Irish Yacht Club's Saskia Tidey is a member of the GB squad in the race to win the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup
In the wide-ranging interview, Tidey recalls how she had to ask the Olympic Council of Ireland to release her to compete for Britain.
“I presented my case in a meeting room at a law firm in Dublin. I found it quite intimidating. Apart from my mum, who I brought along for support, I was the only female in the room and was the youngest by about 30 years,”she told Walsh.
“ I had come from the gym that morning, looked at everyone dressed in suits and thought, ‘Wow, I probably shouldn’t have come in the gym kit. I probably should have showered.’ You know that sort of feeling,”she said.
Saskia Tidey in her Team Ireland kit for Rio 2016
“Tidey explained she felt nothing but gratitude for the support she had received from Irish Sailing but without a way to compete at Tokyo she would leave the sport,”Walsh writes.
“I really hope they know how much respect I have for their sailing, that I feel it was an honour to be part of the team,”she says of Irish Sailing.
“Just because I’m now under a different flag doesn’t mean I’ve changed as a person. The respect I have for both nations is immense,”she told Walsh.
Read the full interview in The Sunday Times HERE (paywall)
