Team Sperry Athletes Qualify For London Olympics 2012
LEXINGTON, MA, USA (December 19, 2011) - Sperry Top-Sider®, the leading global nautical performance and lifestyle brand, is proud to announce the names of its Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes who will compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games, having recently qualified at the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Championships in Perth, Australia.
Members of Team Sperry who qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games at the ISAF event include:
USA
Stuart McNay - 470
Graham Biehl - 470
Zach Railey – Finn
Paige Railey – Laser Radial
Erik Storck – 49er
Trevor Moore – 49er
Belgium
Evi Van Acker – Laser Radial
Croatia
Ivan Gaspic – Finn
The ISAF Sailing World Championships in Perth, Australia, is the key qualifying event for the Olympics, and 75 percent of nations participating in London 2012 decide on their Olympic teams during this regatta. More than 1,200 sailors raced in Perth with thousands of spectators attending daily to witness the spectacular racing. Approximately 600 million viewers worldwide are expected to have watched the event online or on television.
In addition to the Team Sperry athletes who qualified through the World Championships, seven additional Team Sperry athletes were already selected to represent Great Britain. This group includes Nick Dempsey, Saskia Clark, Hannah Mills, Lucy Macgregor, Kate Macgregor, Annie Lush and Paul Goodison. Further names will be announced in early 2012 as countries finalize their selections.
Craig Reingold, President of Sperry Top-Sider commented, “All of the Team Sperry athletes who competed in the championships should be congratulated on their incredibly hard work and dedication. Those who qualified will face one of the biggest challenge of their sporting lives, and we are so excited to be a part of this ever growing number of Team Sperry athletes gearing up for next year’s games.”
Ends
December 2011
About Team Sperry:
Team Sperry is a select group of world-class sailors who share Sperry Top-Sider's passion for performance. Seasoned by competition, Team Sperry provides valuable input into the design and testing of Sperry Top-Sider product for use in, on and around the water. This feedback allows Sperry to develop state-of-the-art performance solutions for competitive and casual sailors through our proprietary GRIPX Technology.™
The current team includes 17 athletes from the USA and 16 from Europe in the following Olympic sailing classes:
470 men
• Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl (USA)
• Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell (GBR)
470 women
• Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR)
49er
• Trevor Moore and Erik Stork (USA)
Finn
• Ivan Gaspic (Croatia)
• Giles Scott (GBR)
• Zach Railey (USA)
Laser Radial
• Evi Van Acker (Belgium)
• Paige Railey (USA)
Laser
• Paul Goodison (GBR)
Match Racing
• Claire Leroy, Claire Pruvot, Marie Riou and Elodie Bertrand (France)
• Lucy MacGregor, Kate MacGregor and Annie Lush (GBR)
• Sally Barkow, Elizabeth Kratzig and Alana O’Reilly (USA)
• Anna Tunnicliffe, Debbie Capozzi and Molly Vandermoer (USA)
RS:X
• Nick Dempsey (GBR)
Star
• Andrew Campbell and Ian Coleman (USA)
• Brad Nichol and Andy Horton (USA)
Follow Team Sperry Top-Sider on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Sperry/163964980336170
Follow Team Sperry Top-Sider on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/SperrySailing
Visit Team Sperry Top-Sider’s page on the website at: www.sperrytopsider.com/sailing
About Sperry Top-Sider
Since 1935, Sperry Top-Sider has been the leading brand of footwear for those with a Passion for the Sea. From its introduction of the world’s first siped rubber outsole for non-marking traction to advanced technical fabrication to combat the elements, Sperry Top-Sider remains at the vanguard of high-performance amphibious footwear for life and activities in, on and around the water.
Available around the globe in independent, marine, outdoor and department stores, Sperry Top-Sider is the official footwear of the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regattas, Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week, the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup and the National Safe Boating Council.
Since early 2010, the brand has launched nine Sperry Top-Sider retail stores in the U.S. – retail formats dedicated to the Passion for the Sea lifestyle. Sperry Top-Sider is a division of the Collective Brands Performance and Lifestyle Group, a subsidiary of Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS). For more information, please visit www.sperrytopsider.com.
For further information, please contact:
Sperry Top-Sider
Beverly Antunes
beverly.antunes@sperrytopsider.com
Tel: +001 617-824-6194
Press materials, images etc:
Saltwater Communications
Nicola Marlow
nicola.marlow@saltwatercoms.com
Tel: +44 (0)1202-669244