Sailing wins Program of the Year at AIS Awards

Australian Sailing Team High Performance Director Peter Conde and members of the Australian Women’s Match Racing Team were present in Canberra with the rest of the team currently competing at Sail Melbourne, the opening round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup.

 

Peter Conde said that the award shows that the Australian/AIS Sailing Team is progressing well towards the 2012 London Olympic Games.

 

"We know that to achieve our vision we must have Gold medal athletes, Gold medal coaches, Gold medal support staff, Gold medal management and governance and Gold medal partners,” said Conde. “I was thrilled to receive this award on behalf of all of those awesome members of our Team and on behalf of Yachting Australia and thank them all for their contribution.”

 

“The Australian Government, the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Institute of Sport, along with the entire National Institute Network are key partners in helping us achieve our vision,” he said. We thank them for their unwavering support and for this acknowledgement of our progress."

 

"We have had a good year both in shaping the program and in on-water competition performances, but we know full well that the challenge is to maintain and build on this to the 2012 London Olympic Games and beyond.  We look forward to the ongoing support of our Partners, Sponsors and Patrons along the journey,” said Conde.

 

The last year has been an incredibly successful one for the Australian/AIS Sailing Team with team members winning two Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals at World Championships.

 

Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page won the 2010 470 World Championship in Holland, dominating the regatta from start to finish to win Gold with a race to spare. The win made Page the most successful 470 sailor in history with five World Championships and an Olympic Gold medal.

 

Tom Slingsby won his third Laser World Championship in four years with his Gold medal in Great Britain in August. The victory capped off a remarkable comeback for Slingsby who was 17^th at the 2009 event.

Slingsby was then named the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, becoming the first Australian to ever win the highest award in sailing.

 

In the 49er class Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen won Silver at the 2010 49er World Championship in the Bahamas, and continue to have great success on the water, winning 10 of the 12 regattas they have contested together.

 

2008 Beijing Paralympic Games Silver medalists, Daniel Fitzgibbon and Rachael Cox, marked their return to the Skud 18 class in style with Bronze at the 2010 IFDS World Championship and then Gold at the final round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth, England.

 

The Australian Women’s Match Racing Team also had great success on the water with Nicky Souter, Nina Curtis and Olivia Price winning Gold at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth and then following it up with Bronze at the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship.

 

Off the water the last year has seen the joining of the Olympic and Paralympic sailing programs, with sailing becoming the first Australian Institute of Sport program to do so. Australia’s Paralympic and Women’s Match Racing sailors also became full AIS scholarship holders in 2010.

 

Australian Sailing Team Website