Olympic sailor started his career at Lough Ree Yacht Club
One of the three sailors representing Ireland at the upcoming Olympic Games learned to sail at Lough Ree Yacht Club.
Robert Dickson will compete with Sam Waddilove in the 49er, which is a double-handed skiff or lightweight high-performance dinghy
Robert learned to sail at Lough Ree Yacht Club Athlone, in the late 2000s when staying with cousins in Coosan.
The Dickson family have a long and successful history of competitive sailing. Robert’s grandfather was well known in Ireland for his own success. Indeed the Coosan Dicksons, in particular Robert’s Uncle, David, who has readily offered up his experience to Lough Ree Yacht Club over the years and David’s son, Cillian (cousin of Robert) have also sailed for Ireland at various competitions internationally.
Robert (23) is from Sutton, in Dublin, and is currently studying Sports Science and Health in DCU with a Sports Scholarship.
He is a member of Howth Yacht Club.
Robert started in the Junior sailing dinghy at Lough Ree Yacht Club, the Optimist but quickly moved on to sail and race in the Mirror & 420 Dinghy where he quickly excelled.
In 2009 Robert, representing Lough Ree Yacht Club, won the gold medal at junior fleet level in the Optimist Connacht Championships.
Robert is still a regular visitor to Lough Ree Yacht Club where he continues to coach some of the local sailors, though in recent times he has been busy training and racing on the International Olympic circuit.
In the 49er class, the two crew work on different roles with the helm (person who steers) making many tactical decisions, as well as steering, and the crew doing most of the sail control. Both of the crew are equipped with their own trapeze (wire for leaning out) and sailing is done while cantilevered over the water as far as they can so as to balance the boat against the sails.
Robert and Sean came to prominence in the 49er when at the age of 19, they won the U23 Junior World Title in 2018 in Marseille. The delay in the Olympic Games in some ways, was a blessing in disguise for the boys as it gave them an additional year. Whilst they had been gearing up for the Olympic Games, really their goal was Paris 2024. With the additional year under their belt, the duo qualified for the Tokyo Olympics when the won the last qualifier in Lanzarote last March.
Sailing at this year’s Olympic Games will be held at Enoshima, around an hour south of Tokyo. It is one of Tokyo 2020’s legacy venues, having staged the sailing competition for the 1964 Olympics. Racing starts on July 25, two days after the opening ceremony. The first medal races are on July 31, and the final medal races are on August 4, although there is a reserve day on August 5 just in case.
Live Olympic action begins on RTÉ2, RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ Player from 1:30 am on 23 July as the Irish rowers take to the water with the Olympics Opening Ceremony following from 11:30 am.
Lough Ree Yacht Club looks forward to welcoming Robert back to Athlone after the games and potentially with a medal under his belt!
The third member of the Irish sailing team, Annalise Murphy, also has Athlone connections.
Murphy will compete in the single handed Laser class in which she narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in London 2012 and succeeded with a silver medal in Rio 2016.
Annalise’s parents, Con Murphy and Cathy McAleavy (who competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics in sailing) are members of Lough Ree Yacht Club and spend some of the year living near Athlone in Co. Roscommon.