Canadian Paul McLaughlin served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II and was present at the Dunkirk evacuation, where a mix of military and civilian vessels rescued over 338,000 allied troops that had been cut off by the Germans during the Battle of Dunkirk. After the conflict he began to establish himself as a dominant force in Canadian competitive sailing from his base at the Toronto Royal Canadian Yacht Club. In 1948 he attended the Summer Olympics not only as Canada’s representative in the One Person Dinghy (Firefly), Mixed event, but also as the sailing team’s manager. He had varied results in the first five of seven races, but was effectively eliminated from medal contention after being disqualified in the sixth race as the result of a protest from the French skipper Jean-Jacques Herbulot following a collision. Nevertheless McLaughlin managed to finish fifth in the competition, nearly 500 points above the sixth place Félix Sienra of Uruguay and the seventh place Herbulot, but still almost 700 points away from the bronze medal. He managed the team again at the 1952 Summer Olympics and tried his hand once more at the One Person Dinghy event, but finished eighth overall in the standings. Although he never again competed in the Olympic Games, he continued to race competitively at both the national and international level for many years thereafter.
Canada