{"id":348071,"date":"2023-11-20T22:59:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T23:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=348071"},"modified":"2023-11-21T03:03:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T03:03:35","slug":"inspiring-aussie-scientist-creates-olympic-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=348071","title":{"rendered":"'Inspiring' Aussie scientist creates Olympic history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian sailor<\/a>\ufeff Breiana Whitehead secured a university degree in material science and is now set to chase an Olympic<\/a> medal, having been announced on the team for Paris 2024 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Whitehead created history when her selection was announced in Sydney, becoming the first kite foil sailor selected for an Australian Olympic team.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old from Townsville will realise her Olympic dream as kite foil makes its Olympic debut in Paris.\ufeff<\/p>\n

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Australian Olympic team chef de mission Anna Meares announced the selection of\ufeff Whitehead at Georges River Sailing Club in Sydney's south, with the young gun becoming the third Australian picked for Paris 2024 after marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka<\/a> and canoe slalom champion Jess Fox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I'm really excited to know that I have been selected to represent Australia in kite foiling," Whitehead said in an Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) statement.<\/p>\n

"I'm stoked that I'll be racing in the debut of kite foiling in the Olympics and keen for the world to have a front-row seat of our high-adrenaline sport.<\/p>\n

\"Breiana<\/p>\n

"If you told the little girl from Townsville who was obsessed with sailing that she was going to the Olympics in 2024 I don't think she would have believed you."<\/p>\n

Whitehead, coached by Shane Smith, scored a quota place for the Olympic Games after placing seventh at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague, the Netherlands in August.<\/p>\n

The Queenslander took out bronze at the 2019 Formula Kite World Championships on Italy's Lake Garda.<\/p>\n

Her brother Scott is also a kite sailor and they travel the world competing and training together.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Every athlete selected on the Australian Olympic Team has an inspiring story. Breiana is no exception," Meares said in the AOC statement.<\/p>\n

"She started sailing in Townsville as an eight-year-old, trying many classes over her time before settling on the new discipline of kite foil, and now she is going to represent her country in Paris at the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

"Congratulations to Breiana for this amazing achievement in an exciting time for the kite foil discipline which is making its first Olympic appearance in Paris."<\/p>\n

\"Breiana<\/p>\n

Whitehead graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at James Cook University in 2022.<\/p>\n

Her expertise in engineering comes in handy with kite foil board design.<\/p>\n

"Growing up in the sport of sailing and that world, you want to know how things work and what makes things go better, and I think that drew me to engineering," Whitehead told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"The science area is something I've always had an interest in.<\/p>\n

"My engineering [knowledge] has definitely helped me figure out how things work and to get the best outcome with sailing."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian sailor\ufeff Breiana Whitehead secured a university degree in material science and is now set to chase an Olympic medal, having been announced on the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":348073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=348071"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348076,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348071\/revisions\/348076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/348073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=348071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=348071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=348071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}