Annalise Murphy has been confirmed as being on her way to a third Olympic Games. She is one of the team of three sailors selected by Team Ireland to compete in Tokyo.

Murphy will compete in the Laser Radial Women, the event in which she has finished fourth and second in at the London and Rio games.

She will be joined by Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove who will compete in the 49er Men.

The sailing events in Tokyo will run from 25 July – 2 August 2021 at Enoshima Yacht Harbour.

Murphy is back competing in her Olympic category after taking a short break after Rio when she temporarily switched her focus to the Volvo Ocean Race.

Heading into their first Olympic Games, Dickson and Waddilove are no strangers to success, in 2018 they won the 49er Under 23 Junior World title in Marseille, France.

Performance

Their qualification for Tokyo came courtesy of a stellar performance in the 49er Olympic Qualifying event in Lanzarote last March, the last opportunity to secure an Olympic berth.

A dominant start to the event saw the crew gain enough points to win the Olympic berth in the preliminary rounds before they competed in the medal race.

“Getting your gear, that’s when it all becomes a reality,” said Murphy yesterday. “It’s all happening now. It’s when you can believe that I’m going to the Olympic Games for the third time, it’s just mad.”

“After Rio, I spent some time in the Volvo Ocean Race, and really enjoyed being part of a crew so I competed for a while with Katie Tingle in the 49er FX, but as Tokyo came closer, I switched the focus back to the Laser Radial.”

“I think the conditions in Tokyo could suit me, and I know I work harder than anyone else out there – so I’m ready for a good competition, and we have a good team out there, with Rob and Seán as well.”

“I’m really pleased to be announcing this sailing team today, they have pedigree and talent,” said Team Ireland Chef de Mission Tricia Heberle.

“On one hand we have Annalise who is already an Olympic medallist, bringing that experience to the team heading into her third Olympics.”

“On the other, we have Rob and Seán who are really exciting prospects. They showed their class at the qualifiers in Lanzarote earlier this year, and we are really looking forward to watching them perform in Tokyo.”

Foundation

Sailing Ireland has benefitted from the creation of a Foundation with the specific aim of fostering elite-level performance. Contributors to the foundation were able to see the fruits of their philanthropy when the high-performance base was established in Dun Laoghaire prior to lockdown.

The right facilities attract the right coaches and the combination produces the kind of improvement that means Ireland can compete at the highest level. Tokyo will hopefully give more evidence towards that.

“Sailing has been represented at every Games since 1948, with only one exception in Mexico 1968,” said Team Ireland Sailing Performance Director, James O’Callaghan.

“A proud tradition continues in Tokyo with a small but strong team. We are all delighted to be representing Ireland and after final preparations from our HQ in Dun Laoghaire we can’t wait to get on the plane to Tokyo. Our support has been fantastic and no doubt everyone will be feeling the same highs and lows with us over the summer.”

 

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