Paul Anderson
Kent Connections include: Herne Bay/ Sutton
Valence/ Southborough
Olympic Sport: Sailing
Olympic Games: 1968
Sources include:
Paul Anderson was born in Herne Bay in 1935
In the 1950s he played rugby for Harlequins Rugby Union
Club.
In 1959 Anderson recruited 2 other team members from Harlequins
to take on the radically different challenge of competitive sailing
in the Americas Cup.
At the 1968 Olympics, he won a Bronze Medal, sailing with Robin
Aisher in mixed 5.5 metres sailing competition.
In 1990 Anderson joined the Special Olympics Movement, which
offers sports opportunities to adults and children with
learning disabilities. He became the Special Olympics Director
General of Europe with the remit to develop and grow the Movement
across Europe (under his leadership, the number of countries
running Special Olympics programmes in Europe doubled).
From 1994, Paul Anderson was at the helm of the Special Olympics
in Great Britain until his retirement in 2000. He is now
Vice President for Special Olympics GB.
He is a past chairman of the Olympians Club (which represents
British Olympians from previous Olympic Games) and current
chairman of the Harlequin Players Association.
In 2011 he was awarded the OBE for services to the Special
Olympics Movement.
