Two Person Keelboat (Star), Open

Italy’s Agostino Straulino and his crewman, Nico Rode, came in as the defending gold medalists and Straulino was finishing up a string of eight consecutive European Championships (1949-56). The crew had also won the World Championships in 1952-53 and 1956, taking silver in 1939 and 1948, and bronze in 1954. They were favored but were beaten in four of the first five races by the American boat Kathleen, crewed by Bert Williams and Larry Low. Straulino and Rode won the final two races, but Williams and Low placed second in both to win the gold medal. Bronze went to the Bahamas, with Durward Knowles at the helm. This was the first Olympic medal ever won by the Bahamas. Knowles was competing in his third Olympics, entering in 1948 for Great Britain as the Bahamas did not yet have a National Olympic Committee.