Sam Meech
{{short description|New Zealand sailor}}
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox sailor
| name = Sam Meech
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name =
| fullname =
| nickname =
| nationality =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1991|04|04|df=yes}}{{cite web |url=http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/sailor/sam-meech |title=Sam Meech |publisher=Yachting New Zealand}}
| birth_place = Portsmouth, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| weight =
| classes = Laser
| club =
| collegeteam =
| coach =
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | Men's sailing }}
{{MedalCountry | {{NZL}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }}
{{MedalBronze | 2016 Rio | Laser class }}
| show-medals = yes
| updated =
}}
Sam Meech (born 4 April 1991) is a New Zealand sailor who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference}}
Early life
Meech was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1991.{{cite web |url=https://olympic.org.nz/athletes/sam-meech |title=Sam Meech |year=2016 |publisher=New Zealand Olympic Committee |access-date=17 August 2016}} The sailor Molly Meech is his younger sister; almost exactly two years his junior.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11683620 |title=Road to Rio: Sailing siblings Sam and Molly Meech |date=30 July 2016 | work=The New Zealand Herald}} When he was three and a half years old, their parents gave up their house and the family lived on a boat for the next decade; the siblings attribute their affinity to water to this period of their lives.{{cite news |first1=Juliet |last1=Rowan |title=Bay siblings take to the seas |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11654423 |access-date=17 August 2016 |work=Bay of Plenty Times |date=11 June 2016}} He received his secondary education at Tauranga Boys' College, where fellow Olympic sailors Jason Saunders (born 1990) and Peter Burling (born 1991) were his contemporaries.{{cite news |first1=Kiri |last1=Gillespie |title=TBC trio inspires school with Rio efforts |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11694957 |access-date=17 August 2016 |work=Bay of Plenty Times |date=17 August 2016}}
Sailing career
Meech finished 34th in the Laser class at the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships and won a Halberg emerging talent award in 2011.
In 2013 he won the men's Laser race at the Sail for Gold competition and in 2014 he won the men's Laser competition at the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup. He was part of the New Zealand team that won the 2013 Youth America's Cup.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Americas-Cup---Team-NZ-rebuilds-from-just-four-in-sailing-team/135496?source=google.co.nz|title = America's Cup - Team NZ rebuilds from just four in sailing team}}
Close friends Meech and Andy Maloney had an intense battle to win New Zealand's selection for the one quota spot for the 2016 Summer Olympics.{{cite news |url= http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/79803436/josh-junior-and-sam-meech-named-to-complete-new-zealand-sailing-team-for-rio-olympics |title=Josh Junior and Sam Meech named to complete New Zealand sailing team for Rio Olympics |work=Stuff | access-date=17 August 2016 | first=Duncan | last=Johnstone | date=10 May 2016}} Meech won a bronze medal in the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup sailing regatta in Miami (USA) in January, and a silver medal at a later regatta in Hyères (France) in April; these results won him the selection over Maloney.{{cite news |first1=Stuart |last1=Whitaker |title=Tauranga sailor selected for Rio |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11636593 |access-date=17 August 2016 |work=Bay of Plenty Times |date=10 May 2016}} Meech and Josh Junior made up the last two Olympic nominees of the New Zealand sailing team in May 2016.{{cite news |last1=Johannsen |first1=Dana |title=Two more added to Olympic sailing team |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11636577 |access-date=17 August 2016 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=10 May 2016}} Meech won a bronze medal in the Laser class; the first time that a New Zealand competitor has won an Olympic medal in this class.{{cite news | first=Dana | last=Johannsen |title=Rio Olympics 2016: Sam Meech secures Olympic bronze in Laser class |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11695304 |access-date=17 August 2016 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=17 August 2016}} His sister, Molly Meech, also competed for New Zealand at the 2016 Olympics in the 49er FX class alongside Alex Maloney, the sister of Andy Maloney.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{World Sailing|sam-meech|id=NZLSM12}}
- {{Olympics.com profile|sam-meech}}
- {{NZOC profile|sam-meech}}
- {{Olympedia}}
{{2016 New Zealand Olympic team}}
{{2020 New Zealand Olympic team}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meech, Sam}}
Category:People educated at Tauranga Boys' College
Category:Olympic sailors for New Zealand
Category:New Zealand sportsmen
Category:New Zealand male sailors (sport)
Category:Sailors at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Laser
Category:Sportspeople from Tauranga
Category:Sportspeople from Portsmouth
Category:Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand
Category:Olympic medalists in sailing