Ian James Walker (born 25 February 1970 in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

) is one of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

's most successful sailors, with two Olympic silver medals to his name. He is a member of Northampton Sailing Club and Warsash Sailing Club.

Career

Early life

Walker, together with Chris Fox, won the 1993 International 14 World Championship.

Olympic sailing

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) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, 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 i ...

along with his sailing partner, John Merricks. At the 1996 470 European Championships he won the bronze medal with his partner John Merricks. 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 popular historian and television commentator, the co-founder and past president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chie ...

(2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'',

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

: Sport Classic Books. In 1999, Walker began sailing with Mark Covell. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Walker and Covell won the silver medal in the Star class. Walker also coached Shirley Robertson and her

Yngling The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (, ) in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' were composed sometime ...

team to gold at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

America's Cup

When Great Britain launched its first bid for the

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

for 14 years in 2000, Walker was named as the skipper. Then, in the 2007

he joined fellow Olympic medallist Iain Percy as the tactician of the Italian team +39 Challenge. His

commitments were combined with the highly successful TP52 campaign as skipper of ''Patches'', owned by Eamon Conneely.

Volvo Ocean Race

2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race

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

2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race

In the 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race, Walker skippered Abu Dhabi's first entry in the

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

– Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. Overall the team finished fifth out of the six competitors.

2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race

Ian Walker was also appointed as skipper of Abu Dhabi's next entry, '' Azzam'' into the 2014–15 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 while approaching

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

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

*
archive
*
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 English male sailors (sport) Olympic sailors for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in sailing Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – 470 Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Star Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics 2000 America's Cup sailors 2003 America's Cup sailors 2007 America's Cup sailors Volvo Ocean Race sailors International 14 class world champions World champions in sailing for Great Britain Sportspeople from Worcester, England