Tom Burton OAM

Tom Burton grew up in western Sydney and followed his dad Peter from regatta to regatta, a childhood that turned quickly into a passion for sailing. A school excursion to Sydney Olympic Park during the 2000 Games, and the sight of Tom King and Mark Turnbull winning 470 gold for Australia, planted the Olympic dream. 

He started sailing at age 12, and with no sailing clubs near home in Baulkaum Hills, he began sailing at Wangi Sailing Club in a Sabot. He progressed to competitive sailing at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club, racing an OK Dinghy before moving to the Laser class.  

Tom represented Australia for the first time at the 2007 Laser Radial World Championships. Straight out of school he began a full-time Laser campaign, and in 2010 he joined the Australian Sailing Team. In the lead-up to London 2012 he trained alongside Tom Slingsby, with both chasing Australia’s single Laser berth. Slingsby got the nod and went on to win gold at Weymouth. Tom took the disappointment and used it as fuel. 

From 2012 to 2016 he was ranked the number one Laser sailor in the world for most of that time. In 2014 he claimed silver at the World Championships in Santander, his first Worlds podium, and in 2015 he won World Cup titles in Hyères and Abu Dhabi and added bronze at both the World Championships and the Rio Test Event. After a tough selection battle with Matt Wearn, he earned Australia’s Laser spot for Rio 2016. 

Making his Olympic debut at 26, Tom went into the medal race ten points behind Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic. He needed to put five boats between them, executing a pre-start match race which resulted in a penalty for the Croatian, Tom had a big job on his hands to catch up to the rest of the fleet to put those 10 points between them. In one of the most thrilling finishes in Olympic sailing, Tom crossed the line third while the Croatian finished ninth, and Tom Burton became Olympic champion. 

He was named Australian Sailing Male Sailor of the Year in 2016 and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2017. 

Tom wasn’t done. After finishing second at the World Championships in 2014 and again in 2017, he finally claimed the world title in 2019 at Sakaiminato, Japan. He held his nerve through a six-day series to win the Laser World Championship.  

When he narrowly missed selection for Tokyo 2020, Tom did something few Olympic champions would attempt. He moved from the single-handed Laser to the high-performance 49er skiff, first alongside Simon Hoffman and later with Max Paul, taking silver at the 2023 Trofeo Princesa Sofía in Palmaas he chased a place at Paris 2024. 

After hanging up the hiking boots and harness at Olympic level, Tom hasn’t slowed down. He has built a career in competitive sailing, racing Moths, M32s, TP52s 16-foot skiffs, and coaching at SailGP. 

Across more than a decade at the top of the sport, Tom Burton has been a fierce competitor and a proud representative of Australia. He has pushed those around him to be better, and he continues to inspire the next generation of Australian sailors.