Geert Alle Bakker (15 January 1921 in

Appingedam Appingedam (; ) is a city and former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. Although there is no certainty as to the exact age of Appingedam, historical research demonstrates that the place in which the city would eventually be built had ...

– 7 August 1993 in

Warmond Warmond () is a village and former municipality in the Western Netherlands, north of Leiden in the province of South Holland. The municipality covered an area of , of which is water; had a population of 4,977 in 2004. Together with Sassenheim an ...

) was a

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

from the Netherlands, who represented his country at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

, Canada. With crew Pieter Keijzer and Harald de Vlaming Bakker took the 5th place in the

Soling The Soling is an Keelboat, open keelboat that holds the World Sailing "International class" status. The class was used from the Sailing at the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1972 Olympics until the Sailing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 Olympics as "Sa ...

. Since in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

The Netherlands did

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

the Moscow Olympic Games Bakker again in the Soling represented his National Olympic Committee under the Dutch NOC flag. This time with crew Dick Coster and his son Steven Bakker They took again 5th place. From 1976 till 1979 Geert was president of the

International Soling Association The International Soling Association (ISA) is the sports governing body, governing body for the Soling class, recognised as an international class by World Sailing. The International Soling Association was founded as soon as the Soling became an ...

. After a brain stroke in 1983 he stayed close involved with Soling Sailing however he specialized in judging.

Controversy

Several countries did

the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, others like France did not go since they found the competition devaluated. As result only half of the expected fleet was present during the Olympic regattas. It was the effort of Bakker and Ben Staartjes that the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team went to Tallinn.

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1921 births 1993 deaths People from Appingedam Dutch male sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Soling Sailors at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Soling Olympic sailors for the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch sportsmen Sportspeople from Groningen (province) {{Netherlands-yachtracing-bio-stub