East German sailor Michael Zachries won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montréal Olympics in the Olympic Yachting Center at Kingston, Ontario with the Soling three-person keelboat. Four years later he finished an unfortunate fourth at the 1980 Olympics in the same boat class, when the sailing events were held at Tallinn in Estonia. In 1971 he won his first national title in the Dragon class. In 1971-72, he also won silver medals at the Europeans with Dieter Below. After moving to the Soling class, Zachries won gold they at the 1973 and 1976 Europeans, and bronze in 1974 and 1978. Zachries was a trained sailmaker and worked with his home club of SC Berlin-Grünau and moved to München after re-unification, then working with the Münchner Yacht-Club at Starnberg Lake.
East Germany