Matt Wearn OAM
‘Matt Wearn produced an historic performance in the waters off Marseille in defending his ILCA 7 Olympic gold medal - the first to achieve the feat and only the third Australian sailor to win two Olympic gold medals. It was a feat made the more remarkable for how Wearn had to overcome numerous obstacles - including a debilitating illness - to do so.’
The Laser/ILCA 7 single-handed class is widely considered to be the most difficult gold medal to win at an Olympic Games, with legends like Robert Scheidt, Ben Ainslie and Tom Slingsby among the names to star in the class in recent years.
But only one man has conquered that mountain at consecutive Olympic Games, Western Australian Matt Wearn.
Taking up the sport at the age of five and learning his craft in Perth and off Fremantle, Wearn began sailing the Optimist class before graduating to the Laser.
Under the tutelage of coaches Arthur Brett and Belinda Stowell, Wearn competed in his first worlds at the age of 15 and finished 14th at the 2010 Laser Radial Youth World championship.
A natural athlete, Wearn was also a stand-out junior Australian Rules football player. In 2010 he was selected in the West Perth Development Squad, a feeder into the West Australian Football League.
On advice from trusted sources about the life sailing could offer Wearn he fully committed to the sport and never looked back.
He competed at the 2011 World Championships in his hometown of Perth where he made the Silver Fleet before cracking the top 10 at the 2013 Worlds in Oman.
Then, under coach Michael Blackburn and as a member of the famed Australian Laser squad, Wearn progressed to be ranked No.1 in the world as he battled for 2016 Rio Olympic selection.
But it was Tom Burton, then ranked No.2, who was selected and went on to win Gold in Brazil.
The fire was lit under Wearn and with the goal of earning selection for the Tokyo 2020 Games he won silver medals at the 2018, 2019 and 2020 World championships as well as back-to-back European titles on his way to being named Australian Sailing Male Sailor of the Year in 2018.
Heading into the Tokyo Olympics and it was déjà vu for the Australian selectors. Wearn and Burton were again the top two ranked ILCA 7 sailors in the world but this time it was Burton on top and Wearn in second.
“I had a bitter taste in my mouth after Rio which drove me to tick every box I could,” said Wearn of the campaign. “I won the Euros that year and never finished worse than fourth at the Olympic venue, so I think that consistency helped convince the selectors.”
The selectors nailed it again. Wearn overcame a slow start at the delayed Games to secure Gold for Australia before the Medal Race had even begun.
Wearn then committed to doing what no sailor had ever done before – win back-to-back golds in the class.
This time he would be doing it with new coach Rafa Trujillo but the campaign got off to a horrid start with long COVID completely wiping out the 2022 season and leaving Wearn wondering if he would ever be able to sail again.
By 2023 he was back on track.
In the second half of the year he won the Olympic Test Event before securing his first World Championship on his way to winning the Australian Sailing Male Sailor of the Year Award for the second time and the Australian Institute of Sport’s Male Athlete of the Year.
Wearn stamped his name in the record books in 2024 by winning his second consecutive World Championship before dominating the Olympic regatta on the waters off Marseille for his second consecutive Olympic gold medal - and Australia’s fourth in a row in the class.
He was honoured by the Australian Olympic Committee who selected him as flagbearer for the Paris Olympic Closing Ceremony.