Sydney University Sport has four athletes short-listed for honours at the 2016 NSW Institute of Sport (NWSIS) Awards Dinner, to be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground on November 17.
Rower Cameron Girdlestone, a silver medallist from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and stroke of the Sydney University eight which won the Australian Boat Race on Sydney Harbour last Sunday, has been nominated in the Male Athlete of the Year category.
He’s up against Rio Olympic gold medal winning sailor Tom Burton, wheelchair rugby hero Ryley Batt, who led the Australian Steelers to Paralympic gold, and James Turner the para-football player turned track star who won the Institute’s only Paralympic track and field gold.
Canoe sprint gold medallist from the London Olympic Games Murray Stewart has been short-listed for the Ian Thorpe OAM Outstanding Achievement award for athletes who grabbed the headlines for their strength and tenacity throughout 2016. Stewart finished fourth in the men’s K1 1000m in Rio after overcoming a bout of glandular fever.
An award recognising Academic Excellence will also be handed out, highlighted by Olympic athletics competitors Anneliese Rubie, a Sydney University Athletics Club member, and Jenny Blundell, whose nominations will go up against men’s hockey up-and- comer Paul Counsell.
In addition to the annual awards, recently retired Olympic gold medal winning diver Matthew Mitcham, a former Sydney University sports scholar, will be inducted into the NSWIS Most Outstanding.
The award is presented on retirement to athletes who have made a unique personal contribution to their chosen sport and have achieved outstanding international success.
The 2016 NSWIS Awards Dinner will be hosted by radio broadcaster Alan Jones.
