Two Sydney University students, Krystal Weir and Olivia Price, will head out onto the seas of Weymouth when competition kicks off at the 2012 London Olympic Games after being selected in the Australian Sailing Team.
The team was finalised today and Krystal Weir (Laser Radial) – a Sydney University Elite Athlete Program (EAP) scholarship holder – was selected alongside Sydney University undergraduate Olivia Price, who is part of the women’s Match Racing team of Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty.
Olympic gold medallists Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell (470) and recent Hyeres World Cup winner Brendan Casey (Finn) are also part of the team which now stands at 13 members, with selections already taken place for five-time Laser world champion Tom Slingsby, 49er world champions Nathan Outerridge and Iain Jensen, 470 world champions Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page and two time former world champion Jessica Crisp in the RS:X who will be competing at her fourth consecutive Olympic Games.
Weir, currently studying a Master of Physiotherapy at Sydney University, will compete in the Laser Radial and is heading to her second Olympic Games after competing in the three-person Yngling class in 2008.
“The Laser Radial is the class I’ve been sailing in for the past 12 years, I developed all my skills in this class and got into the Yngling six months before the last Games,” said Weir.
“Beijing was an amazing experience and invaluable to my sailing skills now, it taught me how to work within a team and how important communication is.
“My second campaign has been an entirely different experience as I said I would never go to an Olympics to make up the numbers, I’m going to the Games to come home with a medal,” she said.
All but one member of the now 13-strong sailing team, its youngest in 19-year-old Olivia Price, has at least one world championship to their name and all could bring home a medal as they look to eclipse Australia’s best sailing performance at a single Olympic Games – two gold, a silver and a bronze achieved in Sydney.
Bringing some youthful exuberance to the team, Price (who has put her study – B. Political, Economic and Social Sciences – and a Sydney University EAP scholarship on the backburner for this year to concentrate on gaining Olympic selection) will skipper the Elliott 6m crew alongside Lucinda Whitty (22) and Nina Curtis (24). A new discipline for 2012, match racing is set to be one of the most exciting events of the Olympic regatta.
“Everyone has said it is a massive show so I’m really looking forward to the whole experience,” Price said.
“It’s going to be a good thing that we are in Weymouth [three hours south of London]. There are less distractions and it is slightly smaller and not as intense.”
The team has been campaigning all over the world and know that the last few months will be vital to a successful debut Olympics.
All athletes are currently at the Olympic course in Weymouth where competition kicks off today in the Sail for Gold Regatta.
Weir and Price have now joined fellow Sydney University representatives Ed Fernon (Modern Pentathlon), Murray Stewart (Canoe/Kayak – Sprint), Jessica Fox and Kynan Maley (Canoe/Kayak – Slalom), Matthew Mitcham and Loudy Wiggins (Diving) who have been named to represent Australia at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Goalball squad member Jennifer Blow has been selected in the Australian Paralympic Games team.
