Gold Coast Sport Star of the Year

NOMINEES

Emma McKeon

SWIMMING

Emma is the first Australian ever to win four gold medals at a single Summer Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020) and she is a four-time world record holder. Emma’s total career haul of 11 Olympic medals makes her Australia’s most decorated Olympian.

Tom Green

CANOE

Tom teamed with Jean van der Westhuyzen to shock the world by upstaging Germany to claim a gold medal in the K2 1000-metre canoe sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The pair won the final a day after they smashed the previous Olympic best time set by Italy way back in 1996 in Atlanta.

Mat Belcher

SAILING

Mat Belcher is Australia’s most successful Olympic sailor. Prior to winning gold in the 470 class at Tokyo 2020, the 39-year-old Mat had previously won an Olympic gold medal with crewmate Will Ryan at London 2012, a silver from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and 10 world titles.

Jean van der Westhuyzen

CANOE

Sprint canoeist Jean snared a gold medal in the K2 1000 metres event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, competing alongside Tom Green. The Bond University Bachelor of Business alumnus also competed in the K1 1000m event, finishing 11th.

Ali Day

SURF LIFE SAVING

Ali was crowned the 2020/21 Nutri Grain Surf Life Saving Irornman Champion after winning all six rounds. The Surfers Paradise SLSC champion is a four-time Nutri Grain series winner, the 2021 Australian Surf Life Saving Nationals Ironman Champion and the 2021 Coolangatta Gold Champion – a race he has made his own after seven victories in the event.

Keegan Palmer

PARK SKATEBOARD

Keegan turned professional at the age of 14 and rapidly made his way up the world rankings. Four short years later, in 2021, Keegan qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games going on to win the gold medal in the inaugural park skateboard competition.

Chelsea Hodges

SWIMMING

Chelsea represented Australia for the first time at the FINA World Junior Championships in 2017 and was a member of the Australian 2018 Youth Olympics team where she won two medals. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she was part of the gold medal winning Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay.

Logan Martin

BMX FREESTYLE

After trying BMX freestyle for the first time at 12-years-of-age at his local park, Logan has barely stopped competing internationally. That overseas experience proved invaluable last year when he famously won the gold medal in the inaugural Men’s BMX freestyle event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Shane van Gisbergen

MOTORSPORT

The winner of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship Shane was born to race. In 2021 with Triple Eight Race Engineering, Shane won the drivers’ and teams’ championship respectively in their famous No.97 ZB Holden Commodore.