Sarah Ayton OBE
Sarah Ayton OBE VIDEOS
Sarah Ayton OBE PHOTOS
Sarah Ayton OBE is a Double Olympic Sailing Gold Medalist, high-performance coach, and motivational speaker who draws on two decades of elite sporting success to inspire teams and individuals to reach their full potential.
Sarah famously won gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics as one of the “Three Blondes in a Boat” and repeated her triumph at the Beijing 2008 Games, leading an unbeaten campaign that also saw her capture two World Championships (Cascais, Miami) and the European title in Blanes. Her outstanding contributions to British sport have earned her an MBE and an OBE, and in 2016, she was named ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, the sport’s highest honour.
Now an experienced and engaging keynote speaker, Sarah applies lessons from her sporting journey into actionable insights for business and personal growth. She shares vivid stories about leadership, teamwork, mental resilience, and sustained performance, offering a unique lens on strategic management and thriving under pressure.
Our inspirational speaker has delivered high-impact talks across a range of sectors. Her five tailored keynotes are ideal for corporate events, conferences, and after-dinner engagements, focusing on driving high performance through vision, values, and collaborative success.
- Rolex
- Deloitte
- UBS
- KPMG
- Land Rover
- The Famous Grouse
- Edrington
- Watches of Switzerland
- Westfield Health
- PetLab Co.
- Stelios Philanthropic Foundation
- Banking Circle
" Succeeding in a man’s world: female Thames Valley CEOs take inspiration from Olympian Sarah Ayton Fourteen female CEOs from the Thames Valley heard Sarah’s view on succeeding in a man’s world at a KPMG-hosted event this week. The event was one of a series organised by KPMG’s only female chair, Karen Witton. Karen, regional chair for KPMG in the South, said: “Sarah is a real inspiration, and it was a huge privilege to hear her experiences of getting to the top in a male dominated sport. It was surprising to hear that there are many common themes on achieving success in both sport and business.“ "
Karen Witton - KPMG
" Sarah's speech and presence was a great addition to our event. Her tales of experience and success mixed with her humour was entertaining and motivating to us all! "
PetLabCo.
" Sarah Ayton was an outstanding guest speaker at our event series last year. She really engaged with clients, and they left inspired by her story and her determination. She was a joy to work with and we at the Watches of Switzerland Group would certainly recommend her for any type of event where you'd like your guests to leave feeling uplifted and inspired. "
Watches of Switzerland
" I would highly recommend her to anyone – you will all come away motivated and excited about what can be achieved with clear goals, focus and determination! "
Tim Hancock - Chief Executive | O&G Group
" Just a note to say a great big thank you for your help in organising the session today with Sarah … and also to Sarah for such an engaging session. It was wonderful to hear Sarah’s story and also her key learns, insights and practical tools she shared to help us maintain our levels of resilience. Lots of great links into the world of work, which was terrific for us from our wellbeing perspective. "
Lorna - Head of HR | Edrington
" Sarah delivered a really inspiring keynote for our global conference. She shared her amazing experiences, challenges and learnings in high-level sport, seamlessly integrating these, and directly addressing, the business leadership challenges we had shared beforehand. Our audience was captivated throughout the session and the feedback from our entire group was extremely positive. Sarah was a joy to work with and I would highly recommend her. "
Louise Johnson - Global CEO Fuse
- Teamwork
- High Performance
- Thriving Under Pressure
- Navigating Challenges
- Leadership
