Philip Lawton
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Thaddeus |
| Nationality |  Ireland |
| Born | 7 October 1977 Cork, Ireland |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) |
| Sailing career | |
| Class | Dinghy |
| Club | Royal Irish Yacht Club |
| Coach | Ross Killian |
Philip Lawton (born 7 October 1977) is an Irish former sailor, who specialized in the two-person dinghy (470) class.[1] Together with his partner and eventual three-time Olympian Gerald Owens, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the double-handed dinghy for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in a lowly sixteenth place.[2] A member of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Lawton trained for the Games under his personal coach and Owens' former partner from Athens 2004 Ross Killian.[3]
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.[4][5] 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.[6] 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.[7][8][9] 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.[2][10]
