Australian Sailing’s responsibility is to nominate athletes to the Australian Olympic Committee for their selection onto the 2024 Australian Olympic Team.

The Nomination Panel, appointed by the Australian Sailing Board, comprises of five Olympic medalists, three of whom have won a Gold medal in sailing. It includes the President, High Performance Director, Technical Director of Australian Sailing plus four independent individuals. An independent Chairperson leads the panel and holds the casting vote if there is a split decision. All panellists are appointed based on their knowledge and expertise in high performance sailing and/or high performance sport policy and procedures.

In order to nominate a team to the Australian Olympic Committee, Australian Sailing has a comprehensive nomination criteria, which was published on our website and accessible to all since January 2023. These guidelines are circulated broadly to ensure all interested in seeking nomination are aware of the criteria, with those athletes that express interest receiving the confidential baseline performance regattas and standards directly.

For athletes to be considered for nomination, the strongest grounds are obtained by achieving one or multiple baseline performances across up to four identified regattas, a prerequisite which is designed to elevate the performance of Australian sailors and nurture medal-worthy performances at the Olympics.

The rationale for multiple baseline regattas is to account for sailing’s ever-changing field of play. This includes the variety of conditions an athlete may face at an event, such as sea states, variable winds and differences from venue to venue.

The Sailing Baseline Performance Regattas are kept confidential from external influence to preserve the integrity of these pivotal events. These regattas serve as vital performance benchmarks, guiding the nomination panel in assessing an athlete or team’s global standing.

Three options can occur in terms of baseline performance.

1. One athlete or team achieves baseline performance in a discipline - nomination is automatic.
2. Two or more athletes/team achieves a baseline performance in a discipline – nomination is a discretionary decision between those athletes that have achieved a baseline, based on a variety of factors as outlined in the selection criteria.
3. No athletes hit baseline performance – nomination or non-nomination becomes discretionary based on a variety of factors as outlined in the selection criteria.

Following the conclusion of these baseline performance regattas, the Nomination Panel convenes to deliberate and nominate athletes to the Australian Olympic Committee. Upon the panel's decision, all athletes who expressed interest in a given class are promptly notified in writing of their nomination status, with athletes in close contention receiving both a phone call and written notice. These communications are requested to be held in the highest of confidence as the panel decision will not be provided to the Australian Olympic Committee until the initial dispute resolution 48-hour window is complete.

During this time period, all athletes are offered opportunities to meet with the High Performance Director and Technical Director to seek further clarity on the panel’s decision. In the absence of disputes within this timeframe, Australian Sailing communicates the nominations to the Australian Olympic Committee, initiating the AOC Team Selection Committee’s final ratification of the nomination panel’s decision.

With all athletes who expressed interest fully aware of the criteria and the process as outlined above, no appeals were received thus far for any nominations to the Australian Olympic Team.

Comprehensive Olympic selection criteria, encompassing Australian Sailing, Australian Olympic Committee, and International Olympic Committee/World Sailing standards, are readily accessible on our website here.

For further details on Australian Sailing team selection and upcoming events, we invite you to explore other documents on our website here.