William Ryan (born 23 December 1988) 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 s ...

and an Olympic champion and five time World champion in the men's 470 event with

Mathew Belcher Mathew "Mat" Belcher, (born 20 September 1982) is an Australian sailor and a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 470 dinghy, who currently competes with crew Will Ryan. In 2011, following World Championship and World Cup success, he and Ma ...

Sailing career

Will Ryan experienced sailing when only two days old when he watched the 1988

Sydney to Hobart 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 ...

in his grandfather's boat with his family. In his early years he was inspired by his grandfather and sailed in an old Sabot dinghy on

Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. At the age of 11, Ryan competed in his first race with the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Amateur Sailing Club. Ryan competed in the

Laser Radial The Laser Radial or ILCA 6 is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, originally built by Laser Performance. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The Laser Radial is a variant of the Laser standard, w ...

class at the 2006

Youth Sailing World Championships The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships was first held in Sweden in 1971 and it has been held every year since. It is one of the key events of the federation to help promote top-level youth participation. Editions Equipment Gender Guide ...

. Two years later, Ryan, together with teammate

Byron White Byron "Whizzer" Raymond White (June 8, 1917 April 15, 2002) was an American professional football player and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 until his retirement in 1993. Born and raised in Color ...

, came second at the 2008 World Championships in the 29er class, finishing after fellow Australians Steven Thomas and Jasper Warren, and ahead of British team

Max Richardson Max Richardson (born 24 December 1948) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club during the 1970s before finishing his career at Fitzroy Football Club. The younger brother of Wayne, Collingwood recruit ...

and Alex Groves who took the bronze. In late 2012, Ryan teamed up with World champion

, and less than a year later they the two won their first 470 World Championship at the 2013 event in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

. The team then continued to win the following two editions.https://www.470.org/default/events/content-winners/id/470-world-championships-a-brief-history Ryan represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil. He and teammate Mathew Belcher won the silver medal in the 470 class. In the following years, Belcher and Ryan also won the 2017 and 2019 470 World Championships. Ryan and Belcher returned for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, where they won the gold medal in the 470 class.

Personal life

Ryan's sister is

Jaime Ryan Jaime Ryan (born 8 May 1994) is an Australian competitive sailor. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same nam ...

who also competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she sailed in the women's 49er FX event.

Career highlights

;World Championships :2008 –

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana rail ...

, 2nd, 29er (with

) ;Olympic Games :2016 –

, 2nd, 470 (with

) :2020 –

, 1st, 470 (with Mathew Belcher)

Recognition

* 2013 – Australian Sailing Awards – Male Sailor of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) * 2013 –

Australian Institute of Sport Awards Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was opened in 1981. AIS Sports Star of the Year (later named AIS Athlete of the Year) was first established in 1983/84 with the first winner being swimmer Karen Phillips. In 1995, AIS Junior Athlete of the Year ...

– Team of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) * 2014 – Australian Sailing Awards – Male Sailor of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) * 2015 – Australian Sailing Awards – Male Sailor of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) * 2019 – Australian Sailing Awards – Male Sailor of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) * 2019 –

– Team of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) *2021 – Australian Sailing Awards – Male Sailor of the Year (with Mathew Belcher) *2022 –

Australia Day Honours The Australian honours and awards system refers to all orders, decorations, and medals, as instituted by letters patent from the Monarch of Australia and countersigned by the Australian prime minister at the time, that have been progressively int ...

– Medal of the Order of Australia

References

External links

* * Living people 29er class sailors Sailors at the 2016 Summer Olympics – 470 Sailors at the 2020 Summer Olympics – 470 Olympic sailors for Australia Australian male sailors (sport) Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Olympic medalists in sailing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 470 class world champions World champions in sailing for Australia 1988 births 21st-century Australian people People from the Hunter Region Sportsmen from New South Wales {{Australia-yachtracing-bio-stub