Ian James Walker (born 25 February 1970 in Worcester, Worcestershire) is one of Britain's most successful sailors, with two Olympic silver medals to his name. He is a member of Northampton Sailing Club and Warsash Sailing Club.

Olympics

At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, Walker received the silver medal in the

470 class The 470 (Four-Seventy) is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with a centreboard, Bermuda rig, and centre sheeting. Equipped with a spinnaker, trapeze and a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, it is designed to plane easily, and good teamwork is ...

along with his sailing partner, John Merricks."1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta, United States – Sailing"
''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved 17 April 2009) At the 1996 470-European-Sailing-Championship he won with his Partner John Merricks the bronze medal. On 15 October 1997, both Walker and Merricks were passengers in a minivan in Italy when the driver lost control, and Merricks was killed.

Wallechinsky, David David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American populist historian and television commentator, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chief of AllGov.com and ...

(2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'', Toronto: Sport Classic Books. In 1999, Walker began sailing with

Mark Covell Mark Covell (born 7 November 1968) is a Scottish competitive sailor and Olympic medalist. He won a silver medal in the Star class at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the ...

. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Walker and Covell won the silver medal in the Star class."2000 Summer Olympics – Sydney, Australia – Sailing"
''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved 17 April 2009) Walker also coached

Shirley Robertson Shirley Ann Robertson, OBE DL (born 15 July 1968) is a British sailor and Olympic gold medallist. She made it into the history books by becoming the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal at consecutive games, Sydney 2 ...

and her Yngling Team to gold at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

America Cup

When Britain launched its first bid for the America’s Cup for 14 years in 2000, Walker was named as the skipper. Then, in the 2007 America’s Cup he joined fellow Olympic medallist

Iain Percy Iain Bryden Percy (born 21 March 1976) is an English sailor and double Olympic champion for Great Britain. Olympics Percy competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he won a gold medal in the Finn class.

as the tactician of the Italian team

+39 Challenge +39 Challenge was a yacht racing team established in 2004 that competed for the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007, the challenger series held prior to the America's Cup. The teams was based at the Yacht club "Circolo Vela Gargnano" in Gargnano, Italy, and w ...

. His America’s Cup commitments were combined with the highly successful

TP52 The Transpac 52 (TP52) is a class of yacht used for competitive 52 Super Series yacht racing, and the Audi MedCup previously, besides the world championship of the class. The class is recognised by the International Sailing Federation which entit ...

campaign as skipper of 'Patches', owned by

Eamon Conneely Eamonn or Éamon or Eamon may refer to: *Eamonn (given name), an Irish male given name *Eamon (singer) (born 1983), American R&B singer-songwriter and harmonicist * ''Eamon'' (video game), a 1980 computer role-playing game for the Apple II *"Éamon ...

Volvo Ocean Race

2008/09 Race

In 2008/09 he was the skipper of the Green Dragon boat in the Volvo Ocean Race., the boat finished fifth in this race out of eight competitors.

2011/12 Race

In 2011/12 Walker skippered Abu Dhabi's first entry in the Volvo Ocean Race – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. Overall the team finished fifth out of the six competitors.

2014/15 Race

Ian was appointed as Skipper of

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

's next entry into the Volvo Ocean Race, sailing the new VO65 class. He successfully lead the team to victory, securing an insurmountable point lead over the other teams on the second to last leg. During this race the team also won the in-port race series and set a 24-hour distance record of 550.82 nautical miles while approaching Cape Horn.

Records held

* Fastest circumnavigation – Isle of Wight – 2 hours 21 minutes (Foncia) August 2012. Ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council * Fastnet Monohull Race record – 42hrs 39min, (Volvo Open 70 Abu Dhabi) in August 2011

References

External links

*
Green Dragon Racing Team

Interview with Ian Walker, Green Dragon skipper, May 2009

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 2011-12
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Ian 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Worcester, England English male sailors (sport) Olympic sailors of Great Britain Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – 470 Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Star Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in sailing Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics 2007 America's Cup sailors 2003 America's Cup sailors 2000 America's Cup sailors Volvo Ocean Race sailors International 14 world champions World champions in sailing for Great Britain