Sailing: Peter Burling speaks out over Halberg awards controversy

Peter Burling of Team New Zealand. Photo / Getty

America's Cup winning helmsman Peter Burling is uncomfortable with the debate around his omission from the list of nominees for the Sportsman of the Year at this year's Halberg Awards.

Yachting New Zealand (YNZ) wanted to put Burling's name forward for the prestigious award before Team New Zealand turned down the approach, saying they did not want Burling to be elevated above the team.

YNZ boss David Abercrombie argued the award would have had a positive impact for the sport of sailing in New Zealand.

Burling said he saw both sides of the argument and wanted to move on from it.

"It's not really my place really to be deciding whether you're worthy of being nominated or not," Burling told Newstalk ZB, ahead of the start of the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, in which he is competing aboard Team Brunel.

"You can definitely see it from both sides. It's obviously nice for the sport of sailing to have people making the finals no matter who it is in these kinds of competitions but in saying that it's also a team sport which there's plenty of people a part of.

"At the end of the day it happens from time to time and obviously if people think I'm worthy of that kind of a nomination or to be in that finals then I'm happy to receive it but it's definitely something that was decided."

Burling, who recently won the 2017 World Sailor of the Year award, also said he hoped Auckland could secure the rights to host the America's Cup in 2021.

"I think it's something that just has to be in Auckland. It's something that would be such an amazing thing for the country to be able to host that and I think a fair few of us still have memories from when the last America's Cup was in New Zealand and seeing how many boats were out in the water and how many Kiwis got in behind it.

"I think that really drives us on to keep pushing hard in our sport and keep pushing the boundaries. It's something that really excites us. It's gonna be good.

"I think you just have to see how much every time there's a sporting event like this in New Zealand that the public get in behind it and hopefully it's bigger than the Rugby World Cup."