One Person Dinghy (Olympic Monotype), Open

This was the first time single-handed boats were included in Olympic competition. The IOC decreed that the French sailing authorities should decide on the design of boat to be used and provided these boats for use at the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, the number of entrants exceeded the number of boats available, and a convoluted series of qualifying races had to be scheduled to eliminate just a single boat from the finals. The class was termed the Olympic Monotype, but was actually known as the Monotype national français (or French National Monotype) or Meulan, class, and was chosen as the monotype class by the Union des sociétés nautiques française (USNF). However, only 10 of the 16 boats were Monotype national français, with the other six slightly different and possibly of the very similar Belgian/Dutch Scheldejol class.

Léon Huybrechts, a Belgian who had won silver medals in both 1908 and 1920, proved himself a master of the fickle French winds. He posted a comfortable victory in the first of the two races that made up the Olympic final, and then held off the challenge of the Dutch boat to win the second race and confirm himself as champion. Behind him, there was a three-way tie for second place and so a tie-breaker race had to be scheduled. Spain’s Santiago Amat led at halfway but faltered badly and allowed Henrik Robert of Norway and Hans Dittmar of Finland to pass him and claim silver and bronze, respectively.

Although she failed to reach the final stages, Swiss sailor Ella Maillart made a piece of history by becoming the first woman to skipper a boat in Olympic competition. Maillart, who also competed internationally in hockey and alpine skiing, later became better known as an adventurer and acclaimed travel writer.