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Most Successful Female Olympic Sailor of All Time Hannah Mills is made an OBE

1st January 2022
470 Women: GBR Hannah Mills (right) and Eilidh Mcintyre at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
470 Women: GBR Hannah Mills (right) and Eilidh Mcintyre at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

A host of the British Sailing Team’s Tokyo 2020 stars have been recognised in the New Year Honours List for services to sailing.

Hannah Mills is made an OBE after winning gold in the women’s 470 class in Japan this summer, becoming the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time in the process.

Mills’ award also recognises her environmental campaigning with her charity the Big Plastic Pledge.

Eilidh McIntyre, who won gold alongside Mills in the 470, is made an MBE, as are 49er Olympic champions Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell.

British Sailing Team boss Mark Robinson, who led Team GB’s sailors at Tokyo 2020, is also made an MBE.

A host of the British Sailing Team’s Tokyo 2020 stars have been recognised in the New Year Honours List for services to sailing.A host of the British Sailing Team’s Tokyo 2020 stars have been recognised in the New Year Honours List for services to sailing.

Prior to joining the British Sailing Team in 2017, Robinson was performance manager at Australian Sailing where he led the country’s Paralympic sailors to the top of the medal table at Rio 2016.

“I am truly honoured to have received an MBE for services to sailing and very happy to see a number of our Olympic medallists also recognised,” said Robinson, Olympic Performance Manager at the RYA.

“However none of these successes are down to one person. Success in these pursuits only comes from a group of highly dedicated and relentless individuals that form a team and work as one to execute the task at hand, which we had in abundance within the British Sailing Team throughout this Olympic cycle.

“This is equally shared with all the outstanding individuals I have had the pleasure of being alongside in this pursuit of excellence.”

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About the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Northern Ireland 

  • The RYA is the national body for dinghy, yacht and motor cruising, all forms of sail racing, RIBs and sports boats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inland waterways cruising.
  • The RYA is recognised by Government, the media and opinion formers as the representative body and voice for the activities that it represents. It continually fights for the rights and freedoms of its 112,000 personal members.
  • The RYA has more than 1,500 affiliated clubs and classes, which represent some 350,000 boaters throughout the UK. It is estimated that 4 million people in the UK take part in boating activity annually.
  • The RYA also sets and maintains recognised standards for training for both leisure and commercial boating through a network of more than 2,400 RYA Recognised Training Centres across 58 countries. More than 250,000 people per year complete RYA training courses.
  • The RYA is responsible for one of the UK’s most successful Olympic medal-winning sports. Our coaching and development schemes actively support 800 of our country’s top sailors, from talented juniors to Olympic and World champions.
  • The RYA is committed to promoting all forms of boating and making them accessible to everyone. For more information please visit www.rya.org.uk.
  • The Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland (RYA NI) acts for the RYA in Northern Ireland (NI) and the Chairman of RYA NI is invited to join the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) Policy Review Committee.
  • You can find the RYA Northern Ireland at Sketrick House, GE8, Jubilee Road, Newtownards, BT23 4YH.
  • RYA NI is a company limited by guarantee – Registration number NI 51945
  • Contact RYA NI: Tel: 02891 827154 email: [email protected]