ASTN names Lydia Lassila and George Gregan as sports technology industry ambassadors

April 28, 2023

The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has today announced that two of the nation’s sporting greats will represent Australia’s billion-dollar sports technology industry on the global stage.

Taking up the role of ASTN’s first global sports technology ambassadors, Winter Olympic ski great Lydia Lassila and rugby union legend George Gregan, each of whom are sportstech entrepreneurs, will represent ASTN in an upcoming European trade mission as well as sharing their wealth of entrepreneurial insights with ASTN’s member network.

James Demetriou, founding Chair and Director, Commercialisation and Global Partnerships at ASTN, believes ASTN is privileged to have two elite and highly regarded sports people advocate for its purpose on the global stage.

Demetriou advised “Lydia Lassila and George Gregan are both incredible athletes and household names, as well as successful sportstech founders. We are honoured they’ve both chosen to represent ASTN for the next year to help accelerate Australia’s sportstech industry globally,” said Demetriou.

Both Lassila and Gregan will attend key international events, including ASTN’s international trade mission to Europe in June that’s supported by Federal and State Governments. Both ambassadors will contribute to ASTN’s second innovation report released later this year with their insights, act as mentors for ASTN’s exclusive member network, as well as for ASTN’s pre-accelerator and accelerator participants.

Lydia Lassila is an Olympic Gold and Bronze medallist and a trailblazer in freestyle aerial skiing having competed at five consecutive Winter Olympics (2002-2018). Her accolades include being awarded Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s Don Award, Australian Institute of Sport’s Athlete of the Year, Ski and Snowboard Australia Athlete of the Year and the Order of Australia Medal.

Lassila is founder of Zone By Lydia, an eco-conscious yoga brand, and BodyICE, specially designed ice packs that help people recover from injuries. She will also support ASTN with its Women in Sportstech program and activities, working with Women in Sports Technology (WiST) to help increase the representation of women in Australia’s sportstech industry.

George Gregan is a Rugby World Cup Champion and holds a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to Rugby Union Football and as the Captain of the Wallabies.

He has a wealth of achievements under his belt and is best known for leading the ACT Brumbies, Australian Wallabies and Suntory Sungoliath in Japan to multiple victories over the years.

Off the field, Gregan co-founded PTP Fitness over 12 years ago, developing strength and conditioning products and programs to help people move smarter and ultimately perform better in whatever fitness or sporting goals they set out to achieve.

ASTN’s international trade mission to Europe will commence in June to Europe's prominent startup tech event, VIVA Technology in Paris and will then visit Switzerland (Lausanne and Zurich) before ending with stops in Germany (Frankfurt) and Belgium.

Image: George Gregan and Lydia Lassila. Credit: ASTN.

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