US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee recognized veteran boardsailor Butler as the sport's 1999 U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Female Athlete of the Year. Bestowed annually, the USOC Athlete of the Year award is based on outstanding performance in competition. As US SAILING's Female Athlete of the Year, Butler will be considered for the overall USOC Female Athlete of the Year Award. Slated for announcement on January 8, 2000, the USOC award winner will be selected from the Athletes of the Year recognized by each Olympic sport's national governing body.

Already a three-time Athlete of the Year ('94, '93, '91), Butler was recognized this year for her dominance of women's boardsailing in the U.S. This summer she won the Mistral Women's gold medal at the 1999 Pan Am Games in Canada where her toughest competition came from long-time rival and defending Pan Am Games Gold Medalist Caroll-Ann Alie of Canada. The two went head-to-head trading the lead back and forth throughout the early part of the 11-race series, with Butler finally breaking the tie on the fourth day of racing. Ultimately, both sat out the final race of the series when their gold and silver medal positions were mathematically secured, Butler with 10 points to Alie's 13. The win secured Butler her third Pan Am Games medal. Having won gold in '91 and bronze in '95, she established a new record for U.S. medals won at the Pan Am Games (in sailing) by a woman.

At the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in October, Butler's flawless performance in the 10-board Mistral Women's division enabled her to sit out one heat of the 14-race series and still win the event. A two-time Olympian ('96, '92), Butler will now become the first woman sailor to represent the U.S.A. at three consecutive Olympics.

Butler stands alone as the only two-time winner ('94, '91) of the Tudor Boardsailor of the Year Award. She was recognized by the 1994 selection committee for her outstanding consistency. In May, 1994, she was immortalized on a trading card by Sports Illustrated for Kids.

Also in 1994, Butler made headlines as the first boardsailor ever to compete in the 125-mile Newport (Calif.) to Ensenada (Mexico) Race, a distance event primarily contested by offshore racing boats of 24 feet and longer. Butler's board was 12 feet long. What started as a fundraising event to finance her second Olympic bid quickly became an endurance test, and not just on the water. Skeptics did not think the 5' 4" Butler could go the distance. Added to that was the knowledge she would be sailing through shark infested waters off San Diego, where a young woman had been killed just prior to the event. The day started sunny and breezy, and a bright moon lit the way after dark. Sailing never more than 10 miles from shore, she finished the race in 29 1/2 hours. In 1995 she repeated the feat, shaving time off her previous record.

At age 10, Butler learned to sail in the junior program of Port Washington Yacht Club on Long Island Sound. By age 13 she had learned to windsurf from her sister Lynn, and by age 15 Butler was racing regularly. Within a year she was competing at the international level -- a significant achievement in itself considering that most boardsailors come to the sport after years of competitive singlehanded sailing or surfing. Competition in windsurfing requires superb physical conditioning and expert knowledge of sailing technique, wind and current as well as tactical understanding of competition. Windsurfers are the fastest monohull sailing craft in the world, with a shape that makes it less stable than a surfboard and prone to capsizing.

SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS:
1999 Pan American Games Mistral Women's Gold Medalist, Canada
1995 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist, Argentina
1994 Goodwill Games Bronze Medalist, Russia
1994/93US Olympic Festival Gold Medalist (Carlyle, IL/San Antonio, TX)
1993 Sailing World's Women's Sailor Achievement Award
1991 Pan American Games Gold Medalist, Cuba
1990 US Olympic Festival Silver Medalist, Lake Minnetonka, MN
US SAILING's USOC Female Athlete of the Year ('99, '94, '93, '91)
Tudor Boardsailor of the Year ('94, '91)

SAILING RESUME:
2000
Kiel Week, Germany (6th/38 Mistral Women)
1999
IBM Sydney Harbour Regatta, Australia (8th/22 boards)
Pan American Games, Gimli, Canada (1st/5 boards)
Mistral Women North American Champs, San Francisco (5th/17 boards)
Kiel Week, Germany (4th/48 Mistral Women)
SPA, Holland (14th/58 boards)
Miami OCR (1st/14 boards)
1998
Sydney International Regatta, Australia (7th/19 Mistral women)
Mistral Women’s World Championship, France (17th/63 boards)
Sydney Harbour Regatta, Australia (6th/16 boards)
1997
Kiel Week, Germany (3rd/44 boards)
Windsurfer Nationals, Australia (1st overall)
Mistral Nationals, Australia (3rd/8 boards)
Sail Melbourne, Australia (3rd/10 boards)
Miami OCR (6th/28 boards--top woman)
1996
Olympic Games, Savannah (11th/27 Mistral Women)
Mistral Women's Olympic Team Trials, Savannah (1st/11 boards)
World Champs, Haifa (12th/69 boards)
1995
Mistral Worlds, South Africa (13th/70 boards)
European Championships, Great Britain (10th/66 boards)
1994
World Boardsailing Champs, Manitoba (4th/48 boards)
1992
Olympic Games, Barcelona (5th/24 boards)

Click HERE to read USOC's Athlete Spotlight of Lanee