First Athletes Selected to Team GB for Rio 2016 Olympic Games
by Lindsay Bell 9 Sep 2015 08:30 BST
9 September 2015
Giles Scott selected to represent Team GB for Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the Finn class © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team
The British Olympic Association (BOA) today announced the names of the very first athletes to officially join Team GB for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
A total of eight athletes have been selected across six of the ten sailing events, who between them have won four Olympic medals and seven World Championship golds.
Giles Scott's is the first name to appear on the Rio teamsheet, with the 28-year-old, unbeaten in almost two years, set to make his Olympic debut in the Finn class.
London 2012 silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are paired together again in the 470 Women's class while Luke Patience, who also won silver three years ago, teams up with two-time World Champion Elliot Willis in the 470 Men's event.
Bryony Shaw, who became Britain's first female Olympic medal-winning windsurfer with bronze at Beijing 2008, is set to contest her third Olympic Games next year in the RS:X Women's event.
London 2012 Olympian Alison Young returns in the Laser Radial while 2015 Laser World Champion Nick Thompson earns his first Olympic appearance to round off the first wave of sailing selections for Rio.
British sailors have established a proud tradition of excellence in Olympic competition, having won 55 medals – including 26 golds – since sailing made its debut at Paris 1900 with Team GB topping the overall Olympic sailing medal table.
The selected sailors, nominated by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), are:
- Giles Scott: Finn (Men's One Person Dinghy Heavy)
- Nick Thompson: Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy)
- Alison Young: Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy)
- Luke Patience and Elliot Willis: 470 Men (Men's Two Person Dinghy)
- Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark: 470 Women (Women's Two Person Dinghy)
- Bryony Shaw: RS:X Women (Women's Windsurfer)
Mark England, Team GB's Chef de Mission for Rio 2016, said:
"The selection of the first Team GB athletes is a landmark moment on our journey to next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
"The eight athletes named today include Olympic medallists and World Champions, all of whom have earned their place in the 6 boat classes. As one of our most successful medal winning sports it is a fitting that Sailing kick-off our Rio 2016 team announcements.
"This is the start of the creation of what is likely to be a 350 strong Team GB in 2016. Our focus is on great preparation, great support and great performance and, if we get that right, we will have delivered an environment that will allow the athletes to perform to the best of their ability."
Team GB is calling on the nation to Bring on the Great in the run-up to Rio 2016 - and at the Games themselves - as our athletes gets ready to compete at the world's greatest sports event.
Fans can show their support by sending in their good luck messages on TeamGB.com and joining the new Team GB Club. These messages will be displayed on flags which will be given to the athletes travelling to Rio as well as featuring on Bahia Bands, a traditional Brazilian good luck bracelet, which fans will be able to buy later this year.
Stephen Park OBE, Team GB Sailing Team Leader and RYA Olympic Manager said:
"We're delighted to be announcing the first sailing members of Team GB today. The road to Rio 2016 has just got one step closer for these eight athletes who have displayed fantastic performances during our qualification period so far – most notably Giles Scott who has dominated in his class for the past two years.
"It's particularly pleasing to see Giles, Nick Thompson and Elliot Willis finally earning their Olympic call-ups after making such strong contributions to the British Sailing Team's medal winning efforts over the years. They and all the other sailors named today have proven they have what it takes to win medals for the United Kingdom at the highest level, and their selections today allow them good time to focus their campaigns specifically on preparing for the challenging sailing venue that Rio undoubtedly is."
Giles Scott, born Huntingdon, Cambs, now lives Portland, Dorset, Finn said:
"I have been trying to get to the Games for a long time and I suppose it's something that always seemed miles out of reach, a bit of a dream. To be in the position to be selected to Team GB is a huge honour and to be going is a lifelong ambition. But clearly I want more from it than just to say I went.
"I now have 11 months to focus in on the one regatta and hopefully that will enable me to eradicate any noise that other peak regattas would bring in, hopefully it will enable me to be in a better and stronger position for eleven months' time."
Hannah Mills, born Cardiff, Wales, grew up Dinas Powys, Wales, now lives Portland, Dorset, 470 Women said:
"London was obviously amazing, it was a home Games and the home support we got was just the most unexpected and surreal experience. With Rio what's really going to be cool is the fact that we are going to be in the city, right in the hub of where the Olympics are going to be with all the other sports and I think that is going to be super exciting to really feel a part of that. It's going to be very different to London and I think embracing that is going to be key and I just can't wait!
"Sas and I are definitely a very different team since London, it was a late campaign and was all a bit of run at it from afar and, with everything that was going on, just do the best that we could in the time that we had available. This time has obviously been a lot more of a calculated four years.
"We're a much, much stronger team and we're really looking forward to next year."
Saskia Clark, born Colchester, Essex; now lives Weymouth, Dorset, 470 Women said:
"I still feel like a bit of kid getting selected to go to the Olympics, whether it is your first time or your third and so I'm really excited.
"We have a lot to learn to about the venue in Rio and obviously we are really pleased to have come away from both Test Events with a medal, not the win, but medals prove we're close. We have a year to go, all our competitors have a year to go still as well, so we are not planning on slowing down and thinking the job is done. We have a very busy year ahead to keep improving and are improving at a faster rate than anyone we are sailing against.
Nick Thompson, born and grew up in Lymington, Hants; now lives Ringwood, Hants, Laser said:
"I have been trying so hard for so long to be selected for an Olympics. I have done three Olympic cycles full time and almost more, and to not actually have had the chance to represent the country has been bitterly disappointing. To be selected to be part of Team GB this time, and to be selected really early on, is a huge achievement and it allows me really to focus hard on trying to do the country proud next year.
"I think to win gold in Rio you need to be a really good all round sailor. We have seen so far on the trips out there that the conditions are really challenging and you do get a good mix.
"The event is going to be all the way down to the wire, especially in the Laser class, so you are just going to have to battle on all the way through the event and see where you lie at the end."
Alison Young, Bewdley, Worcs; now lives Portland, Dorset, Laser Radial said:
"I didn't really expect to get the phone call so I was pretty excited to find out I was being selected. It's the first essential step in trying to win a gold medal in a year's time.
"It's great being part of the British Sailing Team and at the Games when we all come together as Team GB it adds another level to that, so I'm really excited and it's a great privilege to represent the UK.
"I love going to Rio and I love sailing there, it throws up a lot of variety of conditions. Outside you can get big swell and inside it's more choppy, more shifty and tide going on. There is a lot to learn about the place, it's great sailing and a natural amphitheatre with Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer so it's a really great place to go sailing.
Bryony Shaw, born Wandsworth, grew up Oxford; now lives Weymouth, Dorset, RS:X Women said:
"Being selected for the Games for the third time feels just as special as the first time I think. It was a shock to be nominated this time, but I can be proud of the results I have had this year so far. I have worked really hard to peak for those key regattas including the European Championships, which I think has been the highlight so far.
"It's a huge honour to be able to have a career that you can have three chances at the Olympic Games. It is incredible but also I feel that my experience from the previous two Games will really set me up as a top contender for the gold this time round. I will be a fierce competitor to those for whom maybe this Games is their first time. I think it's the show, the Olympics is totally different and certainly the show that Rio will put on will be totally different to what London put on and what Beijing put on, so it will be special in its own way."
Luke Patience, born Aberdeen, Scotland; grew up Helensburgh, Scotland; now lives Portland, Dorset, 470 Men said:
"It's such an exciting phone call to get and it just gets the wee butterflies going. You dream about a single thing for so many years of your life, certainly all of my adult life in my case, so to get the call saying you're selected for the Olympics is just so good, such an honour. I'm always proud to don the Team GB shirt and here we go again. Round two, let's fight!
"I'm just so pleased to be in a team with Elliot and be able to experience his first excitement to it all. He is a very grounded guy and he is very unaffected by the occasion, but let's be honest it's the Olympic Games, and it is going to be a good one! I'm so pleased to be in a boat with him, we get on really well. We raced each other hard, to the bone, in our younger years and here we are in the team together. Stuart and I had a fantastic experience last time round and I'm sure me and Elliot and I are on the same path to have a fantastic experience to go and race hard. He has got to be one of the most talented and successful sailors that has yet to go to the Olympic Games so I'm so pleased that he has that opportunity. "
Elliot Willis, from Sevenoaks, Kent, 470 Men said:
"It's been a long road for me – this is my third Olympic campaign, with Beijing being my closest chance of selection before now when I was sailing with Nic Asher. Even though we haven't had a clear competitor in our trials, I have been trying for a long time to make it to the Games so to have that finally confirmed is an exciting moment.
"Luke and I have known each other for many years, as rivals and now as teammates and he's a fantastic sailor and a great guy to be around. It's pretty hard not to like him! For both of us, selection is a small but important step towards what we ultimately want to achieve next year in Rio. We want to be there on the start line in 2016 with a real shot at winning gold, so we'll be working towards optimising our racing, our equipment and everything towards the challenges we expect from Rio as a venue."