William Ryan (sailor)
William Ryan (born 23 December 1988) is an Australian sailor and an Olympic champion in the Men's 470 class with Mathew Belcher. Ryan represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He and teammate Mathew Belcher won the silver medal in the 470 class. Ryan and Belcher returned for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, where they won the gold medal in the 470 class. Ryan is a 5 time 470 world champion together with Mathew Belcher. Ryan's sister is Jaime Ryan who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with  him. She sailed in the Women’s 49er FX event. Earlier years. Will Ryan experienced sailing when only two days old when he watched the 1988 Sydney to Hobart race in his grandfather's boat with his family. In his early years he was inspired by his grandfather and sailed in an old Sabot (dinghy) on Lake Macquarie in NSW. At the age of 11, Ryan competed in his first race with the Toronto Amateur Sailing Club. He then competed in the Laser Radial class at the 2006 Youth World Sailing Championships. Together with teammate Byron White, Ryan came second  at the 2008 World Championships in the 29er boat by finishing behind fellow Australians Steven Thomas and Jasper Warren, but in front of Britons Max Richardson and Alex Groves who took the bronze.