British Sailors Become First Athletes Selected for London 2012

08 Aug 2011 By IPC

With just a little more than one year to go until the Opening Ceremony, the first athletes to compete in the London 2012 Paralympic Games were announced Monday (8 August).

The British Paralympic Association announced its five athletes who will compete in Sailing.

John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas were selected for the three-person keelboat event, while Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell were selected for the two-person keelboat event.

“It’s weird in some ways, as we never expected to be selected this early – and it’s crazy to think that we’re the first athletes to be officially selected for 2012,” Stodel told Paralympics GB.

“It’s great that the selectors have that much faith in us. We now have to look forward to the next 12 months and carrying on the hard work we’ve been putting in.”

While Great Britain has never won a Sailing medal at the Paralympic Games before, Robertson, Stodel and Thomas won silver in the Sonar class at the 2011 IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships, while Rickham and Birrell took SKUD gold in the same event.