Matthew Bugg

Matthew Bugg (born 25 February 1981) is an Australian sailor. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the 2.4mR class sailing event. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 IFDS World Championships. He is a paraplegic as a result of a snowboarding accident when he was twenty-three years old. and is a member of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. His race competitors included his father and Peter Thompson who won gold in sailing at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.

Bugg competed in the 2012 IFDS World Championships, finishing eleventh overall in the 2.4mR fleet event following daily finishes of tenth, fifth and eighth. It was his third time competing in the event. and was ranked fifth in the world. He was 31 years old at the Games. In November 2014, Bugg shared the Yachting Australia Sailor of the Year with a Disability award with Daniel Fitzgibbon, Liesl Tesch, Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden. The Australian team of six sailors beat Great Britain by one point at the IFDS World Championship.

At the 2015 IFDS World Championship in Melbourne, Australia, he won the bronze medal in the 2.4m class. In January 2016, he won the silver medal at the International 2.4mR World Championships held on Hobart’s Derwent River.

Bugg won the bronze medal in 2.4 Norlin at the 2016 World Championships held in Medemblik, Netherlands. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Bugg won the silver medal in 2.4 Norlin. He was leading the event until he fell back from the gold medal position after being disqualified in race 10 of 11. Bugg's performances in 2016 led him to being named 2016 Tasmanian Athlete of the Year.