NZL Selection announced for Youth Olympic Games

by Jodie Bakewell-White

Young sailors Elise Beavis and Jack Collinson have been selected to represent New Zealand at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore this August. They will both be racing in the Byte C11 class.

Photo: Elise Beavis at Byte C11 Worlds, Cannes, France

Both 15 years old and from Auckland’s North Shore, Elise represents the Murrays Bay Sailing Club and Jack the Wakatere Boating Club.

Elise and Jack travelled to Cannes, France to compete in the Byte C11 World Championships during Easter, which contributed to their selection for the two spots available to represent New Zealand at the Youth Olympic Games 2010.

Elise did particularly well in Cannes at the Worlds where she finished seventh overall – an impressive result for her competition debut in the Byte class. She even returned a race win in very light winds.

Jack was 28th at the Byte C11 Worlds in France, and also competed in the Australian Youth Regatta in the Laser 4.7 held in the New Year in Adelaide, where he finished sixth.

Both Elise and Jack have a string of promising results in national and regional regattas here in New Zealand.

The Youth Olympic Games will gather approximately 3,200 athletes and 800 officials. The sailing competition will feature 100 young sailors aged between 15-16 years in four sailing events: one person dinghy men; one person dinghy women; windsurfing men; and windsurfing women.

Alongside the competition and sporting aspect of the Games, there will be compulsory educational programmes on the Olympic values, the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle, the social values sport can deliver and the dangers of doping and of training to excess and of inactivity.

Yachting New Zealand