Shirely Robertson OBE

Consultant And Motivational Speaker

Shirley Robertson is the only British female athlete to have won gold medals at consecutive Olympic Games. She is already the greatest female Olympic sailor in history.

Shirley started sailing at the age of 7 in a Mirror Miracle on Loch Ard in the Trossachs in Scotland. By the 1990s she had won silver medals at the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Europe World Championships. Her excellent form continued into the millennium Olympic Games in Sydney.

Following her success in 2000, Shirley turned her attentions to a new challenge. In 2001 she switched to the new Yngling class and her team finished 14th at the World Championships. Over the next two years they improved rapidly, finishing third at the 2002 Olympic Test Event and winning the 2003 Pre-Olympic regatta. This new direction was rewarded with Shirley’s historical second Gold Medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics.

In 2005 Shirley took a year off Olympic sailing to focus on big boat sailing, a budding TV career, and as an athlete delegate to the successful London 2012 bid. She returned to the Olympic trail, for Beijing, and the quest for another gold in 2006, with new crew mates, Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor.

Shirley speaks about the highs and lows of campaigning at the highest levels in sport as well as linking in the lessons she learnt when moving from a single operator to leading a team. Her presentations range from after dinner speaking to day-long leadership and teamworking masterclasses.