Sune Carlsson

Sune Carlsson’s boyhood interest in boats turned into an athletic and professional sailing career for the rest of his life. His greatest success in the former came at the 1977 World Championships, where he won a silver medal behind the United States in the Star class. Much earlier, he had qualified to represent his country in that category at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, but was considered too young and thus did not travel to the Games. In 1960, however, he and Per-Olof Karlsson represented Sweden in that event at the Rome Games, where they placed 10th among 26 boats. He also won three European titles and was a reserve in the 5.5. metres class at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Domestically, he captured eight national titles in the Star, the first of which came in 1950, when he was still a teenager. His last appearance at the Swedish Championships was in 2015, when he was 84 years old.

Professionally, Carlsson ran a boat yard in Stockholm. Transforming the “Moranäsvarvet” into the “Sune Carlsson Boatyard”, he built approximately 300 Star-class vessels. He was inducted into the Swedish Sailing Hall of Fame in 2017.