Andrew Simpson

Nickname

Bart. (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Hobbies

Supporting English football team Tottenham Hotspur, the financial markets, economics and spending time with his wife, family and friends. (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Occupation

Athlete

Education

Economics

Family

Wife Leah and son Freddie.

Coach

David Howlett (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Position and style

Crew (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Injuries

He suffered with knee problems when he was younger. (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
He started sailing at the age of six in a Seafly dinghy with his father in Christchurch in Dorset. He started racing Optimists when he was seven and Lasers at the age of 13. (skandiateamgbr.com, 26 Sep 2007; yachtingworld.com, 23 Feb 2012)

Ambitions
To win the America's Cup. (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Training
He says that not having much motivation for the gym work is his worst quality as a sailor, but a typical training day consists of various routines in the gym, from endurance training to weights, in the morning and practice runs on the water in the afternoons. (thisisdorset.co.uk, 02 Jun 2011; yachtingworld.com, 23 Feb 2012)

Most memorable sporting achievement
Winning gold in the Star class at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games alongside crewmate and friend Iain Percy. (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Hero
Former England cricket captain Ian Botham. (skandiateamgbr.com, 26 Sep 2007)

Most influential person in career
Former Royal Yachting Association [RYA] national racing coach Jim Saltonstall, because he made sailing fun from a young age and taught him so much. (skandiateamgbr.com, 26 Sep 2007)

Superstitions / Rituals
He likes to listen to certain music tracks before he races. (rya.org.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Awards
He was conferred Member of the British Empire [MBE] in the 2009 New Year Honours List, and in June 2009 even flew home early from the Kiel Week leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup to receive his medal, with coach Nick Harrison sailing in his place. "I felt truly honoured to receive the MBE from Princess Anne," he said. "It would have been great to meet the Queen but Princess Ann told me the Queen had the flu and apologised that she had to present the award instead." (tylersports.co.uk, 19 Jun 2009)

Along with Great Britain's other gold medal-winning sailors from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he was named as the Yachting Journalists' Association's [YJA] Yachtsman of the Year for 2008. (yachtsandyachting.com, 14 Jan 2009)

General
CRITICISM
In March 2011 he questioned the International Sailing Federation's [ISAF] proposal to end the star class and exclude keelboats from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. "Ninety per cent of boats in the world are keelboats," he said. "To not have keelboats represented in the Olympics is not what the sport is about." (news.bbc.co.uk, 16 Mar 2011)

EXTREME IMPROVISATION
In some extreme weather conditions on the penultimate day of racing at the 2011 Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Netherlands, he and crewmate Iain Percy suffered a snapped boom which brought down their mast. The pair improvised an emergency solution by holding their sail at arm's length in the air and still managed to cross the finish line in seventh position.(yachtsandyachting.com, 28 May 2011; phb.co.uk, 17 Jun 2011)

DREAM LOST
He dedicated two years, as an aft grinder and strategist, to the bid by British yacht Team Origin to compete in the 2013 America's Cup. The team withdrew its challenge in October 2010 after new race rules said 72-foot catamarans, rather than the single-hulled 80-footers, would contest the event. (Team Origin, 22 Jan 2008; guardian.co.uk, 01 Oct 2010)

STRONG BOND
He first met crewmate Iain Percy at the age of seven. They raced each other on Datchet Water in Berkshire and played lego together whenever they were unable to sail. He was Percy's training partner for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Percy was also the best man at Simpson's wedding. (bbc.co.uk, 23 Feb 2012)

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008