sit down and …

オリンピックの開催国にはホスト国としての準備だけでなく，様々な種目でメダル獲得が求められます。東京オリンピックに向け日本でもメダル獲得のための強化が始まっているのでしょう。
sit downは「座る」という意味ですが，sit down and …の形で「じっくり腰をすえて…する」という意味があります（『プログレッシブ英和中辞典』小学館）。同辞書にはWe need to sit down and talk about your future.（じっくり腰をすえて君の将来のことを話そう）という用例がありました。今回もwe had to sit down and analyze what was happeningで「状況を腰をすえて分析する必要があった」と解釈できます。（Koyamamoto）

Russia reaffirms command of Olympic figure skating
SOCHI, Russia (AP) -- Russia's figure skaters meekly left the Vancouver Olympics four years ago with just one silver medal.
The sport they once dominated was the province of just about everyone else. With the next Winter Games scheduled for their home country, the Russians new things had to change quickly.
Did they ever. Russia leaves the Sochi Games with three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
"You can see a lot of progress in Russian Olympic skaters," Elena Buyanova, coach of women's winner Adelina Sotnikova, said Friday. "After Vancouver, we had to sit down and analyze what was happening. We had a lot of meetings and there was much constructive criticism, and many lessons learned. There was a rededication ... and you can see the results."
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140222p2g00m0sp068000c.html