James Espey represented Ireland in the men’s Laser dinghy sailing at the 2012 London Olympic Games, competing at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. From Bangor, Co. Down, Espey is a member of Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Ballyholme Yacht Club and began sailing at the age of ten.

He became Ireland’s number one ranked Laser sailor and his road to the Olympics was a study in persistence – he narrowly missed Olympic qualification at the ISAF World Championships in Auckland in December 2011 when a black flag disqualification proved decisive, before returning to qualify at the Laser World Championships in Germany in May 2012, finishing 37th overall and securing his Olympic debut. He was the fourth Irish sailing campaign to qualify for the London Games.