Famous Five provide record Welsh Olympic Sailing Challenge
by Hamish Stuart, RYA Cymru-Wales 2 Apr 2017 13:10 BST
2 April 2017
Hannah Mills & Alain Sign © British Sailing Team
Wales have a record five sailors involved in the RYA British Sailing Team preparing for future Olympics, with the 2020 and 2024 Games firmly in their sights.
Spearheaded by Wales's first sailing gold medallist Hannah Mills as she bids to become the world's most successful female Olympics sailor, the number comfortably exceeds any previous representation and is a sign of the strength of the RYA Cymru Wales talent development.
For the first time in the modern era there were two Welsh sailors competing at the Rio Olympics with Bala's Chris Grube in the 470 men's competition along with Cardiff's Mills.
English born Ed Wright, who learned to sail in Wales and came through the Welsh squad system, is also included alongside Mills and Grube in the latest Olympic Podium group, in the Finn class in succession to gold medallists Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott.
The squad sailors are involved the first stage of development for Tokyo in 2020 at the Princess Sofia trophy in Palma, however Welsh involvement is not just at the highest level as representation goes deeper down the squads of future talent than ever before.
Pembrokeshire's Michael Beckett is in the Olympic classes Podium Potential squad, while Dan Whiteley is in the Olympic Classes Podium Potential Pathway squad.
It means the succession of Welsh sailors in future Olympics look strong, in contrast to previous years when Sydney 2000 Olympics silver medallist Ian Barker from Penarth was the only Welsh representative until the emergence of Mills.
Producing more Olympics sailors was part of the RYA Cymru Wales plan put in place 10 years ago and it is plainly bearing fruit.
"Wales has punched above its weight at junior and youth levels for some time now, so it is great to see that coming through to the Olympic groups," said RYA Cymru Wales high performance manager Paul Simes.
"We have a natural advantage in some great coastal sailing and lakes, now it is good to see those sailors moving up to compete on the world's waters.
"Someone like Hannah Mills started at Llanishen reservoir in Cardiff, Chris Grube on a lake in Bala, while Michael Beckett developed on the West Wales coast in Solva and Dan Whiteley on the North Wales coast in Bangor.
"It shows talent can come from all round Wales and the system is in place to develop them ready for the highest level as part of the immensely successful British Sailing Team.
"We get funding from Sport Wales and from Welsh sailing clubs to develop this process and allow Welsh talent to flourish, but it is good to see the results in black and white."
Whiteley is delighted to be one of the latest names on the British Sailing Team production line, but stresses the importance of having other Welsh athletes to follow.
"It definitely helps having all those top Welsh sailors coming through the pathway before me," he said.
"It means there are people you can talk to, for instance Micky Beckett is a few years older so his experience is still fresh in terms of helping me make the change from part-time amateur to full-time professional.
"It is good to have so many Welsh sailors and shows that all the Sport Wales funding is paying off.
"If you go back 10 years there was nowhere near that number of Welsh sailors in the squad, that was before Hannah Mills came through, so to have so many now is a stellar success."