Ben Sandford
Personal information
Born12 March 1979 (1979-03-12) (age 45)
Rotorua, New Zealand
Medal record
Men's skeleton
Representing  New Zealand
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Lake Placid Men

Ben Sandford, OLY[1] (born 12 March 1979 in Rotorua) is a New Zealand skeleton racer who has competed since 2002. He finished tenth in the men's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He finished 11th at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Early life

Sandford was born and raised in Rotorua, attending Rotorua Boys' High School.[2] He later attended the Victoria University of Wellington, where he graduated with bachelor's degrees in law and geography in 2002.

Sport career

Sandford's best finish at the FIBT World Championships was 3rd in the men's skeleton event at Lake Placid in 2012. With his bronze medal, Ben became the second person from the Southern Hemisphere to medal at the FIBT World Championships, after his uncle Bruce Sandford who won gold in the same event in 1992 in Calgary.

Due to his natural sporting talent, Sandford's introduction to Skeleton came after he led a Squash team representing Victoria University to an International University Squash Tournament held in Austria in 2002. The skeleton track was close to the host centre and Ben thought he would "give it a go."

He has served as an athlete representative to the New Zealand Olympic Committee since 2008 and the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2012.[3] At the 2014 Congress of the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobagganing Sandford was elected as the federation's vice president for Legal Affairs, becoming the first person from Oceania to be elected to the FIBT's executive committee.[4]

Political career

Sandford was the New Zealand Labour Party's candidate for Rotorua at the 2017 general election.[5] Sandford was also ranked 57 on Labour's party list for the election.[6] Sanford came second place to National Party Member of Parliament Todd McClay, who won by a margin of 10,887 votes.[7]

In July 2022, Sandford announced he would contest the 2022 Rotorua mayoral election.[8] He came second to Tania Tapsell, losing by a margin of almost 3,300 votes.[9]

On 24 February 2023, it was announced that Sandford would contest Rotorua for Labour again in the 2023 general election.[10] Sandford came second place to the incumbent McClay, who won by a margin of 8,923 votes.[11]

References

  1. ^ Olympians: Olympians for Life – website of the WOA
  2. ^ "RBHS 'Old Boy" Ben Sandford makes the skeleton finals at the Sochi Winter Olympics" (PDF). Rotorua Boys' High School. February 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Ben Sandford". LinkedIn. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  4. ^ Simson-Woods, Aaron (7 June 2014). "2014 FIBT Congress Monaco". Sliding Sports Australia. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Ben Sandford named Labour's Rotorua Candidate".
  6. ^ "Labour Party List for the 2017 Election announced". Scoop.co.nz. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Rotorua - Official Result". Electoral Commission. October 2017. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  8. ^ Sparks, Zizi (16 July 2022). "Ben Sandford, Rotorua lawyer, announces mayoralty bid". Rotorua Daily Post. New Zealand Herald.
  9. ^ "New Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell sworn into role at inaugural meeting". Radio New Zealand. 21 October 2022. Archived from the original on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  10. ^ Bathgate, Benn (24 February 2023). "Former Olympian joins the race for the Beehive as Rotorua's Labour candidate". Stuff.
  11. ^ "Rotorua - Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.

Other sources

External links

2006 New Zealand Winter Olympics team
2010 New Zealand Winter Olympics team
2014 New Zealand Winter Olympics team
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