Lawton competed for the Irish sailing squad, as a 30-year-old crew member in the men's 470 class, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Building up to their Olympic selection, he and skipper Owens finished a satisfying fortieth to secure the last of the twenty quota places offered at the 2007 ISAF Worlds in Cascais, Portugal. The Irish pair surprised the 29-boat fleet by rounding the top mark of the lighter-air second and fifth race, respectively, throughout the ten-leg regatta. A series of substandard outcomes towards the final half, however, left both Lawton and Owens chasing the pack and never recovered, slipping them off the medal round to a lowly sixteenth overall with 129 net points.