Craig John Monk (born 23 May 1967 in

Stratford, New Zealand Stratford ( mi, Whakaahurangi) is the only town in Stratford District, New Zealand, Stratford District, and the seat of the Taranaki region, in New Zealand's North Island. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki, approximately halfw ...

) is a competitive sailor who won a bronze medal in the

Finn class The Finn dinghy is a single-handed, cat-rigged sailboat, and a former Olympic class for men's sailing. Since its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the Finn has featured in every summer Olympics, making it the longest serving dinghy ...

at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Monk also competed 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, ...

in Atlanta after narrowly beating future

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

skipper Dean Barker for selection to the New Zealand team. He finished 13th. Monk has since been extensively involved in

racing. He was recruited as a grinder by Russell Coutts for the successful challenge in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and the subsequent defence in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. He moved to One World for 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 ...

. Monk was the sailing team manager of BMW Oracle Racing from 2003 until the

2007 America's Cup The 2007 America's Cup was the thirty-second challenge for the America's Cup and was won by Alinghi in the 7th race. The Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and ''Match Race'' in the sport of sailing. As per the Deed of Gift o ...

, and was a grinder for

Artemis Racing Artemis Racing is a professional sailing team founded in 2006 by businessman and sailor Torbjörn Törnqvist, named after Artemis, the ancient Greek goddess. Timeline * 2007: won the MedCup circuit, then called Breitling Medcup, and the TP52 Wo ...

in the

34th America's Cup The 34th America's Cup was a series of yacht races held in San Francisco Bay on September 2013. The series was contested between the defender Oracle Team USA representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the challenger Emirates Team New Zealand re ...

. He won a silver medal in the 2009 Star World Championships alongside Hamish Pepper.

References

1967 births Living people New Zealand male sailors (sport) Team New Zealand sailors Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Sailors at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Finn Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Finn Olympic sailors for New Zealand Olympic medalists in sailing Artemis Racing sailors Sportspeople from Stratford, New Zealand Star class sailors Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Oracle Racing sailors 1995 America's Cup sailors 2000 America's Cup sailors 2003 America's Cup sailors 2007 America's Cup sailors 2013 America's Cup sailors Extreme Sailing Series sailors {{NewZealand-yachtracing-bio-stub