Steven Richard Erickson (born August 14, 1961) is an American

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 s ...

and Olympic Champion. Born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, he competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles and won a gold medal in the

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

class with

William Earl Buchan William Earl Buchan (born May 9, 1935) is an American sailor and Olympic Champion. He competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won a gold medal in the Star class with Steven Erickson. He sailed on '' Intrepid'' in the 1974 Amer ...

. Steve Erickson won two Star Class World Championships: in 1985 with

; and, in 1988 with

Paul Cayard Paul Pierre Cayard (born May 19, 1959) is an American yachtsman and professional sailor. He has competed at multiple world championship level sailing events, including the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race ...

. Erickson's first America's Cup was with Tom Blackaller, on the 12 Meter "USA" / US 61, from San Francisco. He served as the mainsail trimmer. Perth, Western Australia. 1987. At the

1992 America's Cup The 28th America's Cup was contested between the winner of the 1992 Citizen Cup defender selection series, America³, and the winner of the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series, Il Moro di Venezia. It was the first edition of t ...

, Erickson was one of the coaches for the '' Il Moro Challenge''. At the

1995 America's Cup The 29th America's Cup was contested between the winner of the 1995 Citizen Cup, Team Stars & Stripes, which switched to the yacht ''Young America'' (USA 36) for the competition, and the winner of the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup, Team New Zealand, w ...

, Erickson was a trimmer on board Dennis Conner Stars & Stripes. Erickson won the 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race as part of the '' EF Language'' crew, before joining

Luna Rossa Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, originally named Prada Challenge, then Luna Rossa Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. It won the Louis Vuitton Cup on their first attempt in 2000, but ...

as their coach for the

2000 Louis Vuitton Cup The 5th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in t ...

, which they won. He was a member of the boat's afterguard during the

2003 Louis Vuitton Cup The 6th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner, Alinghi, went on to challenge for and win the 2003 America's Cup. The teams The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record. Alinghi Founded by Swiss bus ...

, before working as their operations manager at the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2013 Louis Vuitton Cup The 8th Louis Vuitton Cup was held during July and August 2013, in San Francisco, California, United States of America. The three contenders were Artemis Racing (Sweden), Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand), and Luna Rossa Challenge (Italy). A ...

s. Erickson also spent time with the 2007 Ben Ainslie

Team Origin Team Origin was Great Britain's bid to compete in the 33rd and 34th America's Cups. It was launched in January 2007 but stopped running the racing team in 2010. The syndicate was founded by Sir Keith Mills, also known for being the deputy chairm ...

References

External links

* 1961 births Living people American male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Star Olympic gold medalists for the United States in sailing Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Volvo Ocean Race sailors 1995 America's Cup sailors Il Moro Challenge sailors Luna Rossa Challenge sailors 2003 America's Cup sailors Star class world champions World champions in sailing for the United States 1992 America's Cup sailors {{US-yachtracing-Olympic-medalist-stub