The university’s Risk and Compliance Manager in Accommodation and Hospitality Services, has been appointed by World Sailing as an International Technical Official (ITO) and a member of the International Jury for the Olympic sailing competition.
The Olympic sailing competition will take place from Marina da Gloria with racing on Guanabara Bay and the city of Rio providing the iconic backdrop. There are ten Olympic disciplines from the small one-person Laser dinghy through to the high speed Nacra 17 catamaran and RS:X windsurfers.
Alan, both an elite-level International Judge and International Umpire for World Sailing, the sport’s governing body has already officiated at a number of the world’s top level competitions but sees the Olympic Games is the pinnacle event.
He said: “It’s a real honour and privilege, the Olympic Games is the competition that all sports people strive to compete in and for us as officials it is the pinnacle. I expect it to be pretty pressurised because we’ll be making decisions that can mean the difference between an athlete medalling or not.
“I’ve been working towards this for about ten years and the journey to Rio for me really started gaining momentum last year when I was appointed as a member of the International Jury for Aquece Rio Olympic Test Event and later when I took the helm as Chief Umpire for the Sailing World Cup Finals last year in Abu Dhabi.
“In all honesty I thought the likelihood of being appointed to the Olympics was low as the nationality balance required normally means only one ITO from a country but World Sailing decided to apply a clause from the selection policy that allowed for two ITO’s from one country provided that one is male and one is female – and so they appointed me!”