| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for United Kingdom | ||
| Men's Sailing | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Silver | Atlanta 1996 | 470 |
| Silver | Sydney 2000 | Star |
Ian Walker (born 25 February 1970 in Worcester, Worcestershire) is one of Britain’s most successful sailors, with two Olympic silver medals to his name. Walker also coached Shirley Robertson and her Yngling Team to gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He is a member of Itchenor Sailing Club.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Walker received the silver medal in the 470 class along with his sailing partner, John Merricks.[1] On 15 October 1997, both Walker and Merricks were passengers in a minivan in Italy when the driver lost control, and Merricks was killed.[2]
In 1999, Walker began sailing with Mark Covell.[2] At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Walker and Covell won the silver medal in the Star class.[3]
When Britain launched its first bid for the America’s Cup for 14 years in 2000, Walker was named as the skipper. Then, in the 2007 America’s Cup he joined fellow Olympic medallist Iain Percy as the tactician of the Italian team +39 Challenge. His America’s Cup commitments were combined with the highly successful TP52 campaign as skipper of 'Patches', owned by Eamon Conneely.[4] In 2008/09 he was the skipper of the Green Dragon boat in the Volvo Ocean Race.,[5] the boat finished fifth in this race out of eight competitors.