John Edward Merricks (16 February 1971 – 15 October 1997) was an English

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 ...

. He represented Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, where he 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, Ian Walker. At the

1996 470 European Championships The 1996 470- European-Sailing-Championship was held between June 6 and 15 1996. It was discharged before Hayling Island. And was extended in both a women's and a men's competition 470 __NOTOC__ Year 470 ( CDLXX) was a common year starting ...

he and Walker won the silver medal. Merricks died in a car accident in Italy on 15 October 1997. He and Walker were passengers in a minivan when the driver lost control.

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 Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

: Sport Classic Books. A lake at

Watermead Park The Watermead Country Park is a network of artificial lakes in the valley of the River Soar and the old Grand Union Canal, in and to the north of Leicester and in and to the south of the Borough of Charnwood in Leicestershire. The southern part ...

is named after him.

References

External links

* * * 1971 births 1997 deaths Sportspeople from Leicester Olympic sailors for Great Britain English male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – 470 Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Road incident deaths in Italy Olympic medalists in sailing 470 class sailors Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics 420 class world champions World champions in sailing for Great Britain {{England-yachtracing-bio-stub