Monique de Vries

Fast Facts

Sport: Sailing
Event: 470
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: First senior podium finish at the 2019 Enoshima World Cup, qualifying for Tokyo 2020 
Coach: Belinda Stowell, Ruslana Taran, Victor Kovalenko
Club: South of Perth Yacht Club
Year Born: 1995
State Born: Perth, Western Australia

About Monique

Growing up in Perth, Monique de Vries was born into a sailing family. As she put it, de Vries had two choices as a child, to 'sit on the beach and watch, or get out there and give it a go!'

Her parents, Brian and Lyn are avid sailors, with Brian a 2018 Viper 640 World Champion alongside Monique's Tokyo 2020 470 crewmate, Nia Jerwood's dad, Nick Jerwood.

Monique's parents signed her up for sailing lessons at the South of Perth Yacht Club and by the time she was 12, she was being coached by Olympic legend and gold medallist, Belinda Stowell.

Now, de Vries is also coached by Ukrainian-born Olympian Ruslana Taran, a 1997 World Champion and Sailor of the Year and Victor Kovalenko, who coached Taran to bronze at Atlanta 1996. 

De Vries switched to the 470 discipline in 2016, calling it the biggest challenge she has faced in her career.

She needed to learn to crew and sail a boat she'd never competed in before, in the four years before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but her hard work paid off when in 2019, de Vries and Nia Jerwood qualified Australia a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when they finished ninth overall at the 470 World Championships.

The pair then went on to win their first medal on the world stage, when they claimed silver at the opening round of the Hempel World Cup Series in Enoshima with their achievements recognised by being named Australian Female Sailors of the Year for 2019 at the Australian Sailing Awards.

Selected for Tokyo, Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries placed 16th in the Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470 Class with a top result of seventh in their first race.