Sjoerd Steven Vollebregt (born 10 December 1954, in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

) is 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. The profession of the ...

from the Netherlands who represented his native country at the

1976 Summer 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 ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toront ...

. With twin brother

Erik Vollebregt Jan Erik Vollebregt (born 10 December 1954, in Leiden) is a sailor from the Netherlands who represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Kingston, Ontario. With twin brother Sjoerd Vollebregt as crew, Vollebregt finished 14th in ...

as helmsman, Vollebregt finished 14th in the Sailing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman. 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 Syst ...

the Netherlands

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

the Moscow Olympics, Vollebregt represented his National Olympic Committee under the Dutch NOC flag 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 ...

. Again with his brother as helmsman, he took 7th place. After the 1980 Olympics Vollebregt started a new Olympic campaign for the

1984 Olympics The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an intern ...

crewing in the

Soling The Soling is an open keelboat that holds the World Sailing " International class" status. The class was used from the 1972 Olympics (Kiel) until the 2000 Olympics (Sydney) as " Open Three Person Keelboat". Besides the Olympic career of the So ...

together with

Gijs Evers Gijs is a Dutch masculine given name, which is a variant of Gijsbert, derived from the German name Gisbert. The ''Gis'' element is derived from ''gisil'', meaning "pledge" or "hostage".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Gisbert" Retrieved on 24 Jan ...

and his older brother

Peter Vollebregt Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a ...

as helmsman but finally failed to qualify.

Controversions

* 1976: :During the selection for the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team for the 1976 Olympics a controversy emerged between twelve sailors and the selection committee chaired by

André du Pon André du Pon (30 August 1924, in Amsterdam – 24 May 2006, in Medemblik) was a sailor from the Netherlands] who was three times chef d'équipe for the Dutch Olympic Sailing team. Du Pon led his teams during the Sailing at the 1976 Summer Olymp ...

. Fred Imhoff and

Heike Blok Heike may refer to: * Heike (given name), a (not exclusively) feminine given name, derived from the male name Anri (Henry) * Taira clan, sometimes referred to as "Heike" * Heike crab, a species of crab named after the Taira (Heike) clan * Heike On ...

, two sailors hoping to be selected, filed suit, arguing that

Frieda Vollebergt '' Frida'' is a 2002 film about artist Frida Kahlo Frida, Frieda, or Freida may also refer to: People *Frida (given name), a feminine given name *Frieda (surname) * Frieda (''Peanuts''), a character from the comic strip ''Peanuts'' *Afroditi Fr ...

, the communications person for the sailing team, was partial: as mother of Erik, Sjoerd, and

, all candidates for the 1976 Olympic sailing event, she was accused for having a bias towards her children. In the end Imhoff and Blok lost the

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

and were removed from the 1976 selection. During this period Vollebregt's father,

Jan Vollebregt Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

, was president of the

Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond The Royal Netherlands Watersport Association ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond) is the national governing body for the sports of sailing, surfing, and canoeing in the Netherlands, recognised by the World Sailing. History Founded in ...

(Dutch Yacht Racing Union). * 1980: :Several countries did

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict s ...

the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

, others like

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

did not go since they found the competition devaluated. As result only half of the expected fleet was present during the Olympic regattas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vollebregt, Sjoerd Living people 1954 births Sportspeople from Leiden Dutch male sailors (sport) 470 class world champions Soling class sailors Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Sailors at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Olympic sailors of the Netherlands Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands World champions in sailing for the Netherlands

Controversions

Further reading

1976 Olympics (Kingston)

1980 Olympics (Tallinn)

References