Andrew Simpson

Andrew James Bart Simpson (17 December 1976 – 9 May 2013), was an English sailor who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, as crew for skipper Iain Percy in the Star class representing Great Britain. Simpson died in the capsize of the catamaran he was crewing on 9 May 2013, while training for the America's Cup in San Francisco Bay. Career Simpson started his competitive sailing career in the Laser class, before switching to the heavier Finn class. He claimed the bronze medal at the 2003 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cádiz in the Finn class; his training partner Ben Ainslie took the gold, with Great Britain topping the medal table. He sailed with +39 Challenge in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup. Simpson then moved to the two-man Star class, partnering lifelong friend Iain Percy; they won a bronze medal at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The pair won the gold medal in Beijing in the Star class. After winning the Olympic gold, Percy and Simpson took a break from Star sailing and were in the TeamORIGIN afterguard for the 2010 America's Cup. In 2010, he and Percy won the Star World Championship in Rio de Janeiro.