Billy Besson (born 8 March 1981) is a
French competitive
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. While the term ''sailor'' ...
.
Besson was born in
Papeete
Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...
, French Polynesia where multihulls are central to the sailing culture. A child of
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
, he lived there with his family and learned to sail there.
World champion on the Dart 18 and F18, Besson has also amassed four world championship titles in the
Nacra 17, forming a dynamic duo with
Marie Riou. The skipper's serious back injury deprived the pair of their chance to vie for the Olympic title in
Rio 2016 but, with unfinished business, the pair went back campaigning for
Tokyo 2020.
In 2018, whilst Riou was taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race, Besson was discovering offshore sailing for himself competing with two of France's most prestigious maxi-trimaran campaigns. (Sodebo with Thomas Coville / Banque Populaire with Armel le Cleac'h)
From 2018 to October 2021, Billy was part of
SailGP, as the French skipper of Sail GP.
Participation in Olympics
He competed at the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, in the
mixed Nacra 17.The duo ended 6th.
References
External links
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1981 births
Living people
People from Papeete
French male sailors (sport)
Olympic sailors for France
Sailors at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Nacra 17
Dart 18 class world champions
Nacra 17 class world champions
F18 class world champions
France SailGP Team sailors
World champions in sailing for France
21st-century French sportsmen
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