Nathan's Story
Nathan Outteridge won three consecutive ISAF World Youth Championships (2002-2004) before becoming an Olympian in 2008. In 2005 The Novocastrian was involved in a car accident while driving to a Melbourne Regatta that left him needing to learn to walk again. At 22 he was back in evergreen form, winning the 2008 49er World Championships with Ben Austin. The pair combined again to finish fifth in the 49er medal race at the Beijing Olympic Games. A capsize in the final prevented them from securing a certain medal.
Having started a new partnership with Iain Jensen in 2009 the pair won the 49er World Championship in only their second regatta together. Despite finishing second in 2010, Outteridge won his third World Championship in 2011 while also claiming victory in the Olympic Test event in the same year.
With the form on the board Outteridge was looking to claim a spot on the Olympic podium that was within his grasp in Beijing. The pair’s consistency throughout the regatta saw them take the lead after the third race and eventually pulled off the remarkable feat of wrapping up the gold medal prior to the medal race. The pair finished outside the top six in only three of 16 races and were first past the line on five occasions on the way to gold.
Jensen and Outteridge returned to defend their title at Rio 2016, however New Zealand had already secured the gold heading into the final day of competition. They started the third day of competition three points behind second place Germany.
To win silver they needed to finish two places ahead of Germany in the medal race, worth double points, and they achieved their goal by crossing the line fourth with the Germans back in eighth.
