David John Were Bond (27 March 1922 – 23 March 2013) was a British Olympic gold medallist in

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

. He competed at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London and won a gold medal in the Swallow class with Stewart Morris. He was involved in the promotion of elements related to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and was the last surviving British gold medallist from the 1948 Games.

Biography

Bond attended

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

as a child. In March 1948 Bond was informed that he would be competing at the

in London. To take part, he had to take eight weeks of unpaid leave from his job in the aircraft industry. Along with Stewart Morris, they competed in the Swallow class, which would be the only time it was included in an Olympic Games. The duo went on to win the gold medal in the event, and afterwards celebrated at the Imperial Hotel in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

. When Bond returned to work he was confronted by a boss who asked sarcastically, "I suppose you won the bloody thing, did you?", to which Bond responded, "Yes, we did actually." Bond and Morris' gold medal victory was the only one for the British team at the 1948 Games in sailing, and one of three won by the team overall. In February 2010

Bert Bushnell Bertram Harold Thomas Bushnell (3 September 1921 – 10 January 2010) was a Great Britain, British Rowing (sport), rower who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal alongside Dickie Burnell in the sculling, double sculls, ...

was initially thought to be the final surviving gold medallist from the British team at the 1948 Summer Olympics; however, Bond wrote into ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' to inform the newspaper that he was very much alive. In the run up to the

, Bond teamed up with fellow sailing medallist

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 ...

to promote "Sail for Gold", an exhibition about the history of sailing at the Olympics. He was involved in the promotion of

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

's range of Olympic stamps. Author Clive Ellis had been proposing that Bond's Olympic achievement should be recognised by the

British honours In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, personal bravery, achievement, or service are rewarded with honours. The honours system consists of three types of award: *Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement an ...

system.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, David 1922 births 2013 deaths British male sailors (sport) People from Falmouth, Cornwall Sailors at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Swallow Olympic sailors of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain English Olympic medallists Olympic medalists in sailing People educated at Harrow School Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen