Tessa Parkinson - 470 - Women's Two Person Dinghy - Crew
Olympic Test Event Gold 2007 & World Championship Bronze 2008
ISAF World Ranking: 9th
Results:
2007 Olympic Test Event – Gold
2007 Kiel Week (ISAF Grade 1) – Silver
2007 470 Women’s European Championships - Bronze
2008 Women’s 470 World Championship – Bronze
Facts about Tessa:
DOB: 22nd September 1986
Birthplace: Perth, WA
Job/Business/Study: Currently sailing full time. Deferred from 1st year physiotherapy.
Started sailing: age 8 in a Mirror
Started competing at age: 11
First event competed in: Mirror State Championships
First event won: ISAF Youth Worlds
Superstitions: Never wear the regatta shirt until the competition is over.
Before I compete I always: Make sure I don’t get involved in the stress of the boat park.
Apart from sailing, I relax by: Spending time with my friends and family, reading, going to the beach, shopping, yoga
I admire: Australian Laser sailor Michael Blackburn, for being such a good competitor and sportsman.
Best Sporting Achievement: 2008 470 Women’s World Championship Bronze & Gold in the Olympic Sailing Test Event Qingdao 2007
Ambitions: To win a gold medal at the Olympic Games
Personal motto: Always give things your best go and if it means that much to you don’t give up!
Tessa's Story:
With family and friends all involved in sailing, eight year-old Tessa and her younger brother Luke started sailing Mirror dinghies at Fremantle Sailing Club.
Tessa, who had been helming a 505, knew Elise Rechichi was looking for crew. “At the time, I was unsure what class I wanted to sail and who I could sail with, so I was really happy when the opportunity came up to sail with Elise. We went for a sail together and everything worked out so well that we’ve never looked back.” Tessa says “I think having been a skipper has helped to build my understanding of crewing and I really enjoy the trapezing”
Joining Elise in a 420 three months prior to the ISAF Youth World selections and World Championships they are now looking down the barrel of representing Australia at the Beijing Games in 2008. The two are quite different characters but balance each other well. They are both bubbly and tend to finish each others sentences.
Should they make it to Beijing, Tessa currently 21 and Elise 22 will be on of the youngest Australian Team members at the sailing venue in Qingdao.
Does Tessa find that daunting: “Not really we’re just excited - and because we’re young we have many more years of sailing left in us.”
Of her partnership with Elise, Tessa says: “When Elise and I started sailing together she was already a star. I watched her and she helped me a lot. Victor Kovalenko’s and Belinda Stowell’s coaching have helped me a lot too – I look up to them all.”
They are the best people to have supporting you. Victor coached Belinda to her gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Games.
After 3½ years together they have won gold at the ISAF Youth and 420 World Championships, 470 Junior Championships and been named, “Young Australian’s of the Year”. Happy with their result of first placed Women’s team in Australia the two decided to stick with it. Shortly after, the decision to try for the Olympics was made.
Finishing school with good marks, Tessa enrolled in a Physiotherapy Degree at Curtin University but has deferred due to her Olympic campaign. She still intends to go back and finish it when the time is right and start practicing.
Away from the campaign both she and Elise work for the Yachting Foundation in Western Australia, taking corporate clients out sailing on the Swan River in Perth.
“Winning a medal would be an honour. It would be confirmation that we are the best in
the world and that everything we have done has paid off.”
As part of her Olympic campaign Tessa puts a lot of time into running, swimming, gym work and on-water training. She enjoys the thrill of competing, making the boat go fast, working as a team, racing and the tactics. Another campaign would not be out of the question.
