During the 1960s and 1970s José María Benavides was an eleven-time Spanish sailing champion across multiple different classes. Benavides began his passion for sailing off the coast of San Sebastián, later helping to found the sailing section of the Ur-Kirolak rowing club in 1962. His first major international success came at the 1975 Mediterranean Games where he won silver in the Flying Dutchman. The following year he and Alejandro Abascal competed in the same class at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. After a poor start in the first race, where they finished 11th, they then won the second and fourth races, in addition to finishing fourth in the seventh and final race, to finish seventh overall. Benavides returned to the Olympics four years later for the 1980 Moskva Games, this time competing with Antonio Gorostegui in the Star class where they also finished seventh. After retiring from the sport Benavides worked as a coach, technician, and regatta director, before becoming the head of the Spanish Olympic sailing team.
Spain