Christopher John "Chris" Nicholson (born 18 June 1969) is an Australian

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the ...

who has competed in multiple

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

and

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

s and has won six World championships.

Sailing career

In 1992, Chris and his brother Darren won the

505 Year 505 ( DV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodorus and Sabinianus (or, less frequently, year 1258 ''Ab urbe ...

World Championships in Santa Cruz. The pair also won the 1994 World Championships in Durban and the 2002 World Championships in Fremantle. Nicholson then started competing in the 49er class with Daniel Phillips. Nicholson and Phillips won the 1997

Kiel Week The Kiel Week (german: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in Europe, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting ...

event and then won the 1997

49er World Championships The 49er World Championships are international sailing regattas in the 49er and 49er FX classes organized by the International Sailing Federation. It was first held in 1997. In 2013, the 49er FX class was added to the programme. The 49er has been ...

in Perth. Nicholson defended the title twice, winning the 1998 event in Bandol together before Nicholson won the 1999 event in Melbourne with

Ed Smyth Ed, ed or ED may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc * Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media * ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...

. Nicholson and Phillips then won the 2000 European Championships. Nicholson represented

Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics Australia was the host nation for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games. 617 competitors, 341 men and 276 women, took part in 270 events in 34 sports. Medalists Archery Australi ...

, sailing a 49er with Phillips and placing sixth in the competition. He then competed in his first

, sailing in the 2001–02 event as a watch captain on ''

Amer Sports One ''Amer Sports One'' is a Volvo Ocean 60 yacht. She finished third in the 2001–02 Volvo Ocean Race skippered by Grant Dalton. The yacht was purchased by Canadian Derek Hatfield Derek Hatfield (30 August 1952 – 30 July 2016) was a Canadia ...

''. Nicholson again represented

Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece from 13 to 29 August 2004. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era. The Australian Olympic Committee sent a total of 470 athletes (268 me ...

, sailing in the 49er class with Gary Boyd. They placed seventh in the event. He then returned to the Volvo Ocean Race, sailing with ''

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, Mobile telephony, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in ...

'' in 2005–06 and then with ''Il Mostro'' in 2008–09. In 2009, Nicholson returned to compete in the 505 World Championships, placing third with

Casey Smith Casey Smith (born April 20, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 45 for Niece Motorsports. Racing career Smith made his NASCAR debut in 20 ...

. For the 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race, Nicholson skippered '' Camper Lifelovers'', placing second. He was the skipper of '' Team Vestas Wind'', which was a late entry for the 2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race. On 30 November 2014, during a night navigation, Team Vestas Wind grounded on a coral atoll of St. Brandon. Team Vestas Wind was able to rejoin the race for the final two legs. He then competed in the 2016

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales, on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately . The race is run in ...

on ''

Perpetual LOYAL ''Perpetual LOYAL'' is a maxi yacht. She won the 2016 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race skippered by Tom Slingsby and is owned by Anthony Bell. Career Perpetual LOYAL won line honours in the 2016 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, in a record time of 1 day, ...

''. In 2017 he is a crew member of the Team AkzoNobel in 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race starting from the leg 2.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Chris 1969 births Living people Australian male sailors (sport) Olympic sailors of Australia Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – 49er Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – 49er Volvo Ocean Race sailors Team New Zealand sailors