The moment that Cecilia Wollmann clinched for herself a place at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer, she improved the lot of all young Bermudians who aspire to reach the pinnacle of their sport.

In becoming the youngest sailor to qualify for the Olympics — when she takes to the waters of Guanabara Bay in August, the 18-year-old indeed may be Bermuda’s youngest Olympian ever — the possibilities have been made clear for those among her peers who might otherwise have thought sailing at the Games was for “bigger folk”.

It was not too long ago that Wollmann was joined by the island’s finest in their age groups at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, in August 2014. Making that life-changing journey with her, where it is to be hoped that permanent bonds of camaraderie were formed, were athletics’ Jah-Nhai Perinchief (high jump), Kyrah Scraders (800 metres) and Kionje Somner (200 metres), triathletes Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley, and swimmer Jesse Washington.

All the athletes did Bermuda proud, but it was Wollmann who held our attention longest, coming as she did so close to registering our first medal at that level. But for the unfortunate cancellation of three races near the end of a wind-deficient regatta in the Byte CII class, she might have been able to finish significantly higher than tenth in the 30-strong field.

That said, the teen who has been carrying the torch for women’s sailing in Bermuda with such distinction has continued on an upward curve, with an almost non-stop sequence of meritorious performances on the international scene.

For one so young, she has seen as much of the world as many three times her age — the past 13 months alone taking in CAC Games (Mexico), Pan Am Games (Toronto), Sail Canada Youth National Championships (Kingston, Ontario) and Youth World Championships (Malaysia).

So Friday’s accomplishment at the World Cup in Miami, notwithstanding a hint of controversy as was alluded to by one of our online commenters, would appear to be just rewards for her commitment to the task.

While it is uncertain how many of her peers may join Wollmann in Rio, the prospects for their involvement at the international level are encouraging; more so after the weekend announcement that the Commonwealth Youth Games will be held in the Bahamas next year, the first time the event has revisited the Caribbean since Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966.

Sailing will not be at those championships, but young Bermudians who have shown promise in swimming, athletics, road cycling and tennis should be marking their cards.

So, too, if the Beyond Rugby programme can provide the impetus for a capable sevens squad of players between the ages of 14 and 18, but less likely the remaining sports of boxing and judo.

Judy Simons, president of the Bermuda Olympic Association, suggested after a disappointing team effort at the CAC Games that it may be time for the younger generation to be treated as a priority when it came to elite funding.

Wollmann undoubtedly is the elite member of that generation and she could do with being promoted from Category B to take her place among the likes of Flora Duffy, Bermuda’s most acclaimed Olympic-standard athlete.

When she takes to the start line in the Laser Radial class at Rio 2016, she will be three years younger than was Paula Lewin, the island’s first and most celebrated female Olympic sailor.

Lewin made her bow at the Barcelona Games in 1992 in the Europe class, the precursor to the Laser Radial for the women’s one-person dinghy.

At that Olympics, the first that featured women in a class designed specifically for them, the 21-year-old was accompanied in the Bermuda sailing team by men significantly her senior; not only in age but also in experience.

She was the baby of the group, much like sprinter Dawnette Douglas was on an athletics team at the same Olympics that included Clarance Saunders, Brian Wellman and Troy Douglas, all internationally established. Yet Lewin acquitted herself well despite finishing 21st out of 24 before returning for two more Olympics — an impressive fourteenth out of 28 in Atlanta in 1996, and fifteenth out of 16 in Sydney in 2000, when she formed a three-woman team with Christine Patton and twin sister Peta in the Yngling class.

So the bar has been set at a reasonable height for Wollmann, but, given that she had not planned to be at Rio at all, and instead was targeting qualification for Tokyo in 2020, it can be argued that she is ahead of the game.

This she has timed well because not only does it pit her against the world’s finest in Brazil and give her vital experience for four years later, but it is now unfathomable that she will not make the cut for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team in 2017.

Imagine the sideways glances in some corners — uproar in others — were an Olympian not included in the final 18 for the biggest sailing event ever to visit Bermuda’s shores?

No pressure, selectors.