8 metres, Open

They had been other women who had won Olympic gold medals in sailing but none had ever done so as captain before Virginie Hériot achieved this feat in 1928. The Frenchwoman and her all-male crew clinched their victory by winning the seventh and final race of the series and became the only boat to record three race victories. Anything other than victory in the sixth and seventh Olympic races would most probably have seen them drop down to the bronze medal position but the French team thrived in the stronger wind conditions and could not be matched when the wind blew on the Zuiderzee. Sweden, which finished third, included three members of the Sandblom family, as John Sandblom was joined by his sons.