- Rex Sellers
Rex Samuel Sellers (born
November 11 ,1950 inNelson, New Zealand ) is one ofNew Zealand 's most successful yachtsmen, having won an Olympic Tornado gold (withChris Timms ) in 1984, a silver (with Timms) in 1988 and finished fourth (with Brian Jones) in 1992. In addition, Sellers was third (with Mark Rayner) at the1982 world champs at Kingston inCanada .Sellers was a yachtie of considerable experience before he ever got to the Olympics. As early as
1961 he was sailing in theScootum class before progressing throughP Class ,Cherubs and470 s into the Flying Dutchman and then, in 1977, Tornados.He and
Gerald Sly were chosen to represent New Zealand at the Tornado class at the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow , but never competed because of the American-led boycott. They and the Brazilians would have been pre-Olympic gold medal favourites.In the lead-up to the
1984 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles, California , Sellers sailed with Gerald's brother Rex and they dominated the national trials. However, Sellers and Rex Sly had a falling out and late in the piece, Sellers phoned long-time rival Chris Timms to ask him if he wanted to team up. They hadn’t been the best of friends and were quite different personalities — Sellers quiet and considered, Timms ebullient and outspoken — but they sailed brilliantly together. In Los Angeles, they had a 3-2-1-2-1-2 sequence and were able to bypass the final race and still win by a wide margin.When the next Olympics, in
Pusan , rolled around four years later, Sellers and Timms combined again, though they didn’t see a lot of each other in the interim — Sellers was a fisherman in Nelson (he moved toAuckland in 1990), Timms a resin chemist in Auckland. In the extremely testing conditions at Pusan, the New Zealanders won a silver medal, to confirm they were still right in the top world class.Sellers and Timms were preparing for their third Olympics together, at
Barcelona in 1992, when their team split and Sellers went to Barcelona, instead, with Brian Jones as his crew. They proved competitive and were shaded for a medal, finishing fourth.Sellers was by now getting long in the tooth for a top-class yachtie, but he and Jones attended the
1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, Georgia — Sellers was by then nearly 46 — though they could manage just a 15th placing from nineteen starters.Sellers, along with Timms and
Russell Coutts , was named "New Zealand Yachtsman of the Year" in1984 . Two of Sellers' sons, Ross and Brett, have risen to national prominence in sailing. In the2002 -2003 America's Cup , Sellers was employed by the American team, Oracle.
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