Born in the industrial town of Sheffield, Paul Goodison learnt to sail on a local reservoir. He became a professional sailor in 1996 but his pathway to the Sydney Olympics was blocked by the presence of Ben Ainslie, although he did go to Sydney as Ainslie’s training partner. When Ainslie switched to campaigning in the Finn class after the Sydney Olympics Goodison took over his position as British number one. He had won his first major medal, a European Championship silver, shortly before the Sydney Games and would win further bronze medals from both the European and World Championships in 2002. Third place in the 2004 European Championships, which was the last major regatta before the Athens Olympics, boosted expectations but he was to be denied a medal in Greece by only a handful of points. Goodison continued his run of form by winning the 2006 European Laser Championships after finishing second a year earlier. An equally important result came in 2007 when he won the pre-Olympic test event off the coast of Qingdao. He started slowly at the 2008 Olympics but recovered to take the lead after race four and was a clear winner by the end of the event, Goodison followed this by winning his first world title in 2009 and remained one of the top yachtsmen in his class. He failed to medal at the London Olympics but won his second world title in Japan in 2016, after switching to the Moth class. In his spare time Paul enjoys windsurfing, kiteboarding and playing golf.
Great Britain