Date | 29 August – 8 September 1972 | |
---|---|---|
Status | Olympic | |
Location | Außenförde, Kiel-Schilksee (Kurs A) | |
Participants | 70 from 23 countries | |
Format | Points awarded for placement in each race. Best five of six scores to count for final placement. |
The Dragon class is a one-design three-person keelboat that made its Olympic début at the 1948 Olympics, but was dropped from the Olympic Program after 1972. The Dragon was superseded in 1976 by the Soling, which became the three-person keelboat class for several Olympics.
Racing on the Alpha course, the Dragon event was delayed for several days for various reasons and eventually, only six races could be competed. There was no wind on 5 September, the Games were suspended on 6 September because of the Israeli Massacre back in München, and heavy fog prevented racing on 7 September, causing the sixth, and what would be, final race to be pushed back to 8 September. The outcome would almost certainly not have been different as Australian skipper John Cuneo won the first three races, and then finished third in race five and fourth in race six to comfortably win the gold medal. One of his crew members was Tom Anderson, the identical twin brother of John Anderson, who was winning a gold medal in the Star Class on the Bravo course, at the same time Tom was winning gold in this event.
The 15th-place Spanish boat was skippered by HRH [Juan Carlos, Crown Prince de Borbón], the future King of Spain.