Rodney Stuart Pattisson, MBE (born 5 August 1943) is a British yachtsman. He is a double Olympic gold medalist in sailing won at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and 1972 Munich Olympics both in the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the Dutch Golden Age, 17th-century Gold ...

class. He also won a silver medal at the

1976 Montreal Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

in the same class to become

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

’s most successful Olympic

yachtsman A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

until

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutiv ...

overtook him with 3 gold medals and a silver medal at four different Olympic Games at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

. Pattisson was a member of Itchenor Sailing Club.

Sailing career

Pattisson was born in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishi ...

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

, Scotland, where his father was posted as an airman during World War II. His family left Scotland just two months after Rodney's birth, and he has never lived in Scotland since then.Pattison doesn't consider himself to be ethnically "Scottish." However, with his consent, he was inducted into the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funde ...

in 2002. However, he found it made it hard to convince people of his true nationality and requested to be withdrawn. His example is still said to have been an important inspiration for successful Scottish sailors. He went to school at

Pangbourne College Pangbourne College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school located in the civil parish of Pangbourne, in the English county of Berkshire. It is set in 230 acres, on a hill south-west of the village, in an Area of Outstanding Nat ...

, which was founded in 1917 as the Nautical College Pangbourne. The College prepared boys to be officers in the Merchant Navy although many students joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

, a tradition he followed on leaving the college. He later teamed up with the London solicitor Iain MacDonald-Smith and won the 1968 Olympic trials. They travelled to Mexico two months before the start of the Olympics in order to acclimatise themselves to the local conditions. In 1968 Pattisson and MacDonald-Smith won the gold medal in the Flying Dutchman class in the Olympic Games on their boat ''

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" ( ) is a song and single from the 1964 Disney musical film '' Mary Poppins''. It was written by the Sherman Brothers, and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. It also appears in the 2004 stage show versi ...

'', which was shortened by race officials to ''Superdocious''. Notes from the race indicate that its dominating length of lead mirrored the length of name. The boat is now in the collection of the

National Maritime Museum Cornwall The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is located in a harbourside building at Falmouth in Cornwall, England. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. The ...

. At the time it was noted that in winning the gold, Pattisson became the first "Scot" to win an Olympic medal in sailing. Both Pattisson and MacDonald-Smith went on to win the FD (Flying Dutchman) World Championship in 1969 and 1970. After his Olympic victory in 1968, Pattisson resigned his commission in the

so as to give himself more time for training. As Lieutenant Rodney Stuart Pattisson, he was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the 1969 New Year Honours for his services to

yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called '' yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboat ...

.United Kingdom list: He won another World Championship in 1971, but this time it was with Julian Brooke-Houghton. A second Olympic gold medal followed in 1972 with Christopher Davies and in 1976 Pattisson took the silver medal again with Julian Brooke-Houghton. Pattisson was honoured by being the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Pattisson then retired from the Olympics and later co-skippered the ''Victory 83'', the

Peter de Savary Peter John de Savary (11 July 1944 – 30 October 2022) was a British businessman. The bulk of his business career was spent in the shipping, oil and property sectors. He once owned or managed 13 shipyards around the globe and had global oil-tr ...

entry in the America's Cup in 1983. He was later elected to the Sailing Hall of Fame and

. He later asked to be withdrawn from the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 as he does not consider himself Scottish.

Published works

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Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pattisson, Rodney 1943 births Living people 1983 America's Cup sailors British male sailors (sport) English male sailors (sport) English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in sailing Olympic sailors of Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Sailors at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Sailors at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Flying Dutchman class world champions World champions in sailing for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Pangbourne College People from Campbeltown Royal Navy officers Sportspeople from Argyll and Bute