Sarah Blanck - Laser Radial - Women's One-Person Dinghy

ISAF World Ranked 2nd

Personal motto: "Live a happy and balanced life"

Awards:
* Australian Sailor of the Year
* Victorian Sailor of the Year
* Australian Junior Athlete of the Year
* Australian Youth sailor of the Year

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Results:

2007 Sydney International Regatta (ISAF Grade 1) - Gold
2007 Australian National Championships - Silver
2007 Kiel Week (ISAF Grade 1) - Bronze
2008: Australian Laser Radial National Championship - Gold
2008 Asia Pacific Championships - Gold
2008 Laser Radial Women’s World Championship - 5th
2008 SOF Hyeres Regatta (ISAF Grade 1) - Gold

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Facts About Sarah:

DOB: 18th January 1977
Residence: Melbourne, VIC
Job/Business/Study: Graphic Designer and also studying Personal Training
Education: Bachelor of Design (Graphics)
Yacht Club/s: Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, Royal Brighton Yacht Club, Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron
Started sailing: 10 or 11 in a Minnow
First event competed in: Local Races at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron
Best Sporting Achievement: 4th in Athens, and 3 World Championship wins
Most Influential Person In Career (and why): My Gran was, she was realistic, honest and inspiring with her outlook on life
Ambitions: Finish off a successful sailing career with success, and to manage my own Graphic Design business
The toughest thing about competitive sailing is: Being away from Family and Friends
Before I compete I always: relax by reading a book or doing a jigsaw puzzle
Apart from sailing, I relax by: spending time with family and friends, movies and daydreaming
3 things I can’t live without: ice-cream, chocolate and friends

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Sarah' Story:

Unfinished business and a strong desire for an Olympic medal have put Sarah back on track for her third Olympic campaign. Sarah contested her first Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and performed the best out of the Team but just missed a medal after “Olympic fright” took hold. With a Europe Class World Championship title under her belt Sarah led the single-handed class in Athens at one stage but the end result was fourth. It wasn’t her first such disappointment. Sarah battled fellow Victorian Melanie Dennison for the Europe place at the Sydney 2000 Games and missed out.

Her sailing debut came at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron. Eleven and on holiday she says: “All the kids were doing the sailing program and I wanted to go.” In 1995 she won her first world title in the Laser Radial at the Youth Worlds going on to win the Radial Open Worlds in 1997 the same year she gained a university degree in Design. In 1998 the poised 21 year-old switched to the Europe class and in 2002 won the World Championship.

On Olympic competition Sarah says “People say treat it like any other regatta but that’s wrong. If you haven’t been there you really don’t know. I didn’t sail anywhere near my potential. I can see now why people want to go to the Olympics – I learnt a lot about myself in Athens – self-belief.”

After Athens, ISAF changed the equipment for the Women's One-Person Dinghy Event to a boat called a Laser Radial. As a former World Champion in this class, Sarah returned to try again. Going into the Olympic Games, Sarah is ISAF World Ranked Number 2 after winning a string of regattas including three ISAF Grade One Events.