Two-Person Keelboat (Star), Men

The gold medal went to the Bahamian boat “Gem”, with Durward Knowles at the helm. This was Knowles fifth Olympic appearance, consecutively since 1948, and his second Olympic medal, after a bronze in Star in 1956. His first Olympic appearance came representing Great Britain in 1948, as the Bahamas did not yet have a National Olympic Committee. He would later compete in eight Olympics, his last in 1988, when he was 70-years-old.

The event was very close, as the American team of Dick Stearns and Lindsay Williams would have won the gold medal if they had finished six seconds faster in the last race, in which they finished second, or if Knowles was 35-seconds slower. The helmsman of the Swedish boat “Humbug V”, which won the bronze medal, was Pelle Petterson. Petterson would win a silver medal in the Star Class in 1972 and, in 1977 and 1980, he skippered the Swedish America’s Cup challengers. His daughter also married Paul Cayard, an American sailor who competed at the 2004 Olympics and participated in multiple America’s Cup challenges.