David Hughes made Wednesday’s medal round at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, his mother, Wiscasset Middle High School teacher Irene Marchenay, said from her Edgecomb home Tuesday night. But his and sailing partner Stuart McNay’s shot at making the podium for bronze was a long one at best, she said.

Wherever they finish among the 10 remaining teams in the men’s 470 class, Marchenay said she will be just as proud of their performance at the Summer Games. “And I am so incredibly proud of his focus and his stamina and his sportsmanship,” she said about Hughes, 38.

Tracking the preliminary rounds online has been exciting and at times nerve-racking, Marchenay said. “I can’t take it ... Sometimes I have to pinch myself that, this is my son.” She didn’t realize until recently that everyone who competes in the Olympics gets to always be known as an Olympian, whether or not they win a medal, she said.

A highlight so far was Hughes’ and McNay’s first place finish in one of the preliminaries. “That was amazing, definitely. I was so pleased,” she said. Tougher was Monday’s postponement of a race due to wind conditions, making Tuesday a multi-race day that Marchenay said could not have been easy for the athletes.

Due to points the teams carried over from the preliminary races, Hughes and McNay would need to win Wednesday’s race and the teams ahead of them would need to have a very poor one, Marchenay said in Tuesday’s phone interview. “It would be very, very hard for them to (take) third.”

Tuesday’s Rio Report at ussailing.org stated Hughes and McNay were sitting in fourth after Tuesday’s races but are mathematically eliminated from medal contention. US Sailing is the sport’s national governing body.

Marchenay expected to be able to watch television coverage of the final race Wednesday, but she added she would have liked more coverage of the sailing and some of the other sports at the Games. She understands the emphasis on swimming, gymnastics and track, especially given the accomplishments of swimmer Michael Phelps and some of the other U.S. athletes in those sports. But the French teacher said it would be good for children to see a range of sports, such as sailing and badminton. “It’s too bad,” she said.

When readers last heard from mother and son in separate interviews ahead of the Olympics, the two were looking forward to seeing each other for the first time in a long time, due to Hughes’ rigorous schedule. Their visit in Texas for the U.S. sailing team’s sendoff was extraordinary, Marchenay said Tuesday.

Hughes was waiting for her at the airport and she got to meet many wonderful people who are part of the team, she said.