John, I don't think this quite represents the whole situation. First, based on the public statements of Jim Capron and Dean Brenner, I believe this really was a US Sailing position, not just the Olympic Committee position.

But more importantly in my mind, based on explicit statements made by the US Sailing treasurer Leslie Keller, the decision was not simply about what events were most likely to yield medals on the basis of the US's actual competitiveness in those events. It was based on what US team composition they thought would be more likely to attract the greatest amount of money in donations from the sailing community at large and thus provide them with the greatest budget with which to prepare the team to compete effectively.