John Robertson (Paralympic sailor)

John Curtis-Robertson
Personal information
Nationality	Great Britain
Born	11 February 1972 (age 51); Sunderland, England
Sailing career
Class(es)	Sonar
Medal record
Sailing
Representing Great Britain
Disabled World Championships

Last updated May 25, 2023

John Curtis-Robertson (born 11 February 1972) is a British Paralympic sailor. Curtis-Robertson has represented Great Britain at three Summer Paralympics and with his colleagues Stephen Thomas and Hannah Stodel has won multiple medals in the Mixed Sonar class at the Disabled Sailing World Championships, including skippering his team to back to back gold medals in 2005 and 2006.

Personal life

Robertson was born in Sunderland, England in 1972.^[1] After leaving school he joined the Royal Air Force, but in 1994 a motorbike accident left him paralysed from the waist down and he was invalided out of the force.^[2]

John married Louise Curtis-Robertson in 2022.^{[ citation needed ]}

Sailing career

Robertson was first introduced to sailing by his father when he was 11, piloting mirror's off the coast in Sunderland.^[2]^[3] After his accident in 1994, he was introduced to Paralympic trimarans by a spinal injuries charity during an outward bound course in the Lake District.^[2] In 1997 he began sailing Sonar's.

By 2003 Robertson was joined by fellow British sailor Hannah Stodel and newcomer to the sport, ice sledge hockey Paralympian Stephen Thomas, to make up a Mixed Sonar crew. In 2003 he travelled with his teammates to Athens to take part in the IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championship, where they secured the bronze medal.^[1] The following year the trio qualified for their first Summer Paralympics, the 2004 games at Athens, finishing sixth in the Sonar class.^[3]

Robertson, Thomas and Stodel would remain as a team for over 12 years, with major successes coming in the 2005 World Championships in Sønderborg and the 2006 World Championships in Perth where Robertson skippered them to gold in the Sonar class.^[1] They represented Britain in their second Paralympics, in the 2008 Games in Beijing. They again finished sixth.^[1] Two silver medals in the 2010 and 2011 IFDS World Championships were followed by their third successive Paralympics, this time on home surf when the games came to London. The London Paralympics ended in disappointment for Robertson and his teammates after they were deducted four points after a team bosun cleaned the port side of their keel after being authorized to inspect the craft for damage.^[4] The deduction saw the British team drop to fifth and the bronze medal going to Norway, just three points ahead of them.^[5]

In the run up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Robertson skippered his crew to a third World Championship, beating the Australian team by a single point.^[6]

Related Research Articles

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The International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) was an affiliate member of the International Sailing Federation and was responsible for coordinating the paralympic sailing competition with the International Paralympic Committee. The organisation was initially called the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing up until around 2008 when it had to change its name due to tax law in the country it is registered in.

Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.

Colin Anthony Harrison is an Australian Paralympic sailor. He won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in the Three Person Sonar.

Russell Boaden is a Paralympic sailor from Australia. He won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and a won a gold medal in the Mixed Three Person Sonar the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Daniel Fitzgibbon, is an Australian Paralympic sailor, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. He won gold medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics with partner Liesl Tesch in the two person SKUD 18.

Hannah Louise Mills, is a British competitive sailor and two-time world champion in the Women's 470 class, having won in 2012 and 2019. Mills won a silver medal for Team GB with her crew Saskia Clark in the 2012 Olympics, she followed this up with a gold in the same event at both the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and, partnered by Eilidh McIntyre, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo

Matthew Bugg is an Australian sailor. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the 2.4mR class sailing event. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 IFDS World Championships. He won a silver medal in the 2.4mR at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

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Annie Lush is an English sailor. She was born in Poole, Dorset.

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Helena Lucas MBE is a British Paralympic sailor.

Hannah Stodel is a British Paralympic sailor. Stodel has represented Great Britain at three Summer Paralympics and with her colleagues John Robertson and Stephen Thomas has won multiple medals in the Mixed Sonar class at the Disabled Sailing World Championships, including gold in 2005 and 2006.

Stephen Thomas is a British Paralympic sailor. Thomas has represented Great Britain at three Summer Paralympics and with his colleagues John Robertson and Hannah Stodel has won multiple medals in the Mixed Sonar class at the Disabled Sailing World Championships, including gold in 2005 and 2006.

John Twomey is an Irish Paralympic athlete and sailor. He has represented Ireland at 11 consecutive Paralympic games winning medals at three of them.

Per Eugen Kristiansen is a Norwegian sailor from Bekkestua who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the Sonar class, together with Marie Solberg and Aleksander Wang-Hansen. He has sailed since he was 7. In 1994, he was involved in a climbing accident, and since then has been reliant on a wheelchair. Nine months later, he was an active sailor again. In 1998, he competed for the first time after a disabled sailor invited him to an event, and from then on, he has been an active regatta sailor. In January 2012, he won the World Sailing Championship in Florida.

Marie Solberg is a Norwegian sailor from Sarpsborg. She took part in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London in the Sonar class and won a bronze medal together with Per Eugen Kristiansen and Aleksander Wang-Hansen. She works as a graphic designer and graduated from Høgskolen i Østfold, Halden.

References

1 2 3 4 "Team Profile: John Robertson" (PDF). rya.org.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
1 2 3 "Meet the team: Paralympic star John Robertson". bournemouthecho.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
1 2 "John Robertson". paralympics.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
↑ Pavitt, Michael (1 August 2014). "London 2012 agony will not 'destroy' Hannah Stodel team". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
↑ "Paralympics: GB Sonar crew miss out on bronze". BBC Sport. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
↑ "Para World Sailing: GB trio claim Sonar gold". BBC Sport. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.

External links

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[RYA-1] 1 2 3 4 "Team Profile: John Robertson" (PDF). rya.org.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

[BE-2] 1 2 3 "Meet the team: Paralympic star John Robertson". bournemouthecho.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

[Paralympics-3] 1 2 "John Robertson". paralympics.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

[4] Pavitt, Michael (1 August 2014). "London 2012 agony will not 'destroy' Hannah Stodel team". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2015.

[5] "Paralympics: GB Sonar crew miss out on bronze". BBC Sport. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.

[6] "Para World Sailing: GB trio claim Sonar gold". BBC Sport. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.

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