One Person Dinghy (Finn), Open

The defending gold and silver medalists were back, in the persons of Jochen Schümann of East Germany and Andrey Balashov of the Soviet Union, respectively, but they barely figured in the medal chase. Schümann was second after the second race and led after race three, but he then dropped back. Finland’s Esko Rechardt had a comfortable lead after six races and won the gold medal despite finishing ninth in the final race, when his biggest challenger, Wolfgang Mayrhofer of Austria, only placed 10th and had to settle for the silver medal. Balashov was well back but won the final race to move up to the bronze medal position. The race was missing a number of sailors who joined the US-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics.