Blair Tuke

EVENT: Sailing: Men's 49er

Blair Tuke has had two wonderful sailing careers – as a triple Olympic medallist in the 49er class, and as a double America’s Cup winner.

Tuke, born in Kawakawa in 1989, attended Kerikeri High School and then St Kentigern College in Auckland. He was a strong rugby player as a youngster. He learned to sail at the Kerikeri High School Sailing Academy and the Kerikeri Cruising Club, of which he remains a member. Though he qualified as an electrician, he’s been so busy competing in the world’s major sailing events since he was a teenager that he’s had no cause to revert to his first profession.

Tuke and his long-time sailing partner Peter Burling first made an impression on the New Zealand sports public during the 2012 London Olympics, when they were impressive silver medallists in the 49er class. They were the youngest team in the field and won New Zealand’s 100th Olympic medal.

The pair were utterly dominant at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, sealing the gold medal with two races to spareand by an overall 43-point margin. It was the biggest win of any sailing class in the Olympics since 1968, when the modern scoring system started. They finished ahead of the second-placed Australian boat in 11 of the 13 races.

The two men were co-captains of the 2016 New Zealand Olympic team, so performed the unusual feat of captaining the team and winning gold.

They returned to the Olympic arena in Tokyo in 2021, when they fought hard to win the silver medal again, being denied the gold only on a countback.

After their triumph in Rio, Tuke and Burling, who were coached by America’s Cup veteran and three times 49er world champion Hamish Willcox, turned their attention to the America’s Cup.

They helped Team New Zealand reclaim the America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017 with a 7-1 thumping of Oracle Team USA. They backed up that effort when they were again aboard the winning boat (Burling as skipper and helmsman) as Team New Zealand successfully defended the Cup at home in 2021, beating Circolo della Vella Sicilia 7-3.

Quite apart from the Olympics and America’s Cup, two of sailing’s highest mountain peaks, Tuke and Burling have built an incredible record in other events all around the world.

Tuke began early, winning the world splash championship in 2006 when he was just 17, and the world 29er championship with Stephen Thomas of Australia in 2009. Since then virtually all his triumphs have been with Burling. Their partnership blossomed at the 2009 national youth match racing championship, when the trio of Peter and Scott Burling and Tuke claimed the title.

Tuke and Burling won the 49er world championship from 2013-16, and then again in 2019 and 2020 – six times in all. In 49er racing, they were unbeaten in 27 major regattas between the London and Rio Olympics.

Tuke enjoyed many other successes, not only winning world championship medals twice more in the 49er and twice in catamarans, but also shining in moth, A class, 420 and tornado sailing. Tuke helped Mapfre to a second place finish in the 2017–18 Volvo ocean race. 

The New Zealanders elected to bypass the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the chance of a fourth Olympic medal, because of their commitments to team New Zealand’s America’s Cup defence in Barcelona. The two events clashed almost directly.

In November 2015, Tuke and Burling were named the International Sailing Federation’s World Male Sailors of the Year. They won the Yachting New Zealand Sailor of the Year title in four consecutive years from 2013.

They’ve built an impressive record at the Halberg Awards, sharing in the Supreme Halberg Award with other members of Team New Zealand in 2017, and winning the Team of the Year for their Olympic gold in 2016 and with Team New Zealand the following year. In 2020 they were awarded the NZOC’s Lonsdale Cup.

They are joint CEO of the New Zealand SailGP team, and set up an environmental charity, Live Ocean, to help position New Zealand as a world leader in ocean health.

Tuke and Burling were named Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2017.