Dick's Story
Dick Sargeant and Peter O’Donnell crewed for Bill Northam on Barranjoey to win Australia’s first sailing gold medal, in the 5.5-metre class, at Tokyo 1964. All three had been involved with the Jock Sturrock-skippered Gretel when it challenged for the America’s Cup in 1962.
After Tokyo, Sargeant continued his involvement with the Australian and international sailing world during the ensuing decades. He competed at another Olympic Games, at Mexico City 1968, where he and Carl Ryves sailed their Flying Dutchman class boat into fourth place, an agonising 0.7 points off a medal. The winner of the gold medal was Britain’s Rodney Pattison, who won again at Munich 1972 and finished second at Montreal 1976. The Ryves-Sargeant placing at Acapulco was the best in the Flying Dutchman class by an Australian boat at the Olympics. Barrenjoey also went to Mexico City, to be sailed by Bill Solomons into seventh place in the 5.5-metre class.
