Matt Wearn

In his mid-teens, dual Olympic sailing gold medallist Matt Wearn faced a predicament. Drafted into the West Perth AFL Development Squad, he was on the classic pathway to playing top level Aussie Rules.

The youngest of three children, Matt was raised in a Perth sailing family, a sport he was introduced to at age four.

But as his talent in both sports grew, it became apparent that playing both top-tier AFL and pursuing an elite sailing career wasn’t possible. The naturally gifted sportsman had a choice to make.

“Having to choose between a promising career in two sports is a blessing but it’s also challenging, especially when you’re in your mid-teens, which is about the age these sorts of dilemmas tend to come up,” Matt said.

But after becoming a world champion and Olympic champion Matt was confident he made the right choice, calling it “a decision I’ve never regretted”.

Although he maintains a passion for several sports.

“I enjoy kicking the footy with mates, mountain and road cycling (and) watching and being around motorsport,” he said.

Matt’s sailing journey started as a toddler, when he would spend time with his family at the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Wanting to follow in the footsteps of his older sister Kate, Matt asked his parents if he could do a sailing course.

A few years later, the young sailor started out in the Optimist class boat, sailed for a while in the 420 boat and then found his niche in the Laser class.

In 2010 Matt competed at his first major competition, the Laser Radial Youth World Championships, placing 14th and in less than two years he was on the podium at the senior Laser Radial World Championships in Brisbane and considered his performance first year out of school as his career turning point.

“It was when I cracked the top-10 at the Worlds in Oman in 2013 that I realized that I might be able to compete for the World Championship crown."

As he progressed from junior to senior, Matt graduated to the Olympic class laser standard sailboat and his growing skill didn’t go unnoticed. Matt began working with a leading Australian sailing coach and Sydney 2000 bronze medallist, Michael Blackburn, who would also guide Tom Burton to gold at Rio 2016.

But it was not smooth sailing for Matt, who missed national team selection in 2014.

“That mentally set me back a lot,” he said of missing out.

“I had to regroup and come with a new approach, but it helped my sailing in the long run.”

Back in the national team, Matt was making progress and claimed his first Laser class world championship medal in 2017, winning bronze behind Australia’s Olympic champion Tom Burton.

The following year he upped the ante, winning silver and was later named the Sailing Australia Male Sailor of The Year.

Matt enjoyed a momentous 2019 collecting the Laser European Championship title and silver at the World Championships.

Ahead of the Olympic Team selections for Tokyo, Australia had strong prospects to select from including defending Olympic champion Tom Burton and Matt, who had been on the podium at four World Championships in a row. They could only pick one, and Matt got his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

It was a rough start in Tokyo for Matt, finishing 17th and 28th in his first two races. It was the third consecutive win by an Australian following Tom Slingsby in 2012 and Burton in 2016. It matched a similar achievement by Great Britain, who took the 2000, 2004 and 2008 titles.

However those two numbers, 17 and 28, had no left his mind. Matt had them tattooed onto his forearm as a daily reminder that no matter how bad things are, you can can turn them around for tomorrow.

Matt was forced to miss much of the 2022 season because of a bad case of long COVID, which had him questioning whether he would be able to continue his Paris campaign.

But he recovered to lock in Australia’s quota place for the Games with victory at the 2023 World Sailing Championships at The Hague in the Netherlands, his first world title after three silver medals. The Australian had an unassailable lead going into the men’s ILCA7 medal race, leaving New Zealand’s George Gautrey and Britain’s Michael Beckett to duel for silver.

The victory made Matt the fifth-best performing sailor in ILCA men’s world championship history.

He confirmed his dominance by claiming a second consecutive title at the 2024 ILCA7 World Championships in Adelaide.

Matt took an eight-point lead into the medal race, where he found a clean lane off the start that catapulted him to a lead he held at every mark. The win makes him the first Australian to win back-to-back world titles since Tom in 2012.

“To win a worlds is pretty incredible, and to go back-to-back just makes it that much more special. To do it in Australia with family and friends around is awesome,” Matt said.

“It’s obviously a really good step towards Paris. The progression I have been making with (coach) Rafa (Trujillo) has been good, and we’re happy with the way I’m sailing at the moment.”

In Marseille at the Olympics Matt successfully defended his Olympic title and stretched Australia's unprecedented run of men's dinghy Olympic gold medals to four-in-a-row. He joined Tom Burton and Malcolm Page in a group of Aussie Olympians that have won multiple sailing Olympic gold medals.

Patience and poise underpinned the victory for the then 28-year-old, after winds played havoc with scheduling. Going into the final race, Matt had done enough to claim no worse than silver, with only Cypriot sailor Pavlos Kontides capable of catching him.

His superb campaign was rewarded by Paris 2024 Australian Team Chef de Mission Anna Meares, who picked Matt and five-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown as Flag Bearers for the Closing Ceremony.

“I wasn’t expecting to have this honour and I’m just really humbled and excited to represent Australia this way on the biggest stage,” he said.

In December 2024 Matt announced he will take a break from Olympic sailing to explore professional sailing opportunities. The Australian Institute of Sport named Matt Australia's Able-Athlete of the Year in 2023 and 2024.