Jan Erik 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 s ...

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 Phi ...

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 Toro ...

. With twin brother

Sjoerd Vollebregt Sjoerd Steven 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 Erik Vollebregt as helmsman, Vollebregt finished ...

as crew, Vollebregt finished 14th in the

Sailing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman The Flying Dutchman was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 1976 Summer Olympics program in Kingston, Ontario. Seven races were scheduled with 40 sailors, on 20 boats, from 20 nations competing. Results DNF = Did Not Finish, DNS= Did Not ...

. Since in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

the Netherlands boycotted the Moscow Olympics, Vollebregt represented his National Olympic Committee under the Dutch

NOC A network on a chip or network-on-chip (NoC or )This article uses the convention that "NoC" is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "a" for the indefinite article corresponding to NoC ("a NoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as an ...

flag in the Flying Dutchman. Again with his brother as crew, he took 7th place. After the 1980 Olympics Vollebregt started a new Olympic Flying Dutchman campaign for the 1984 Olympics with Eddy Huisman but finally failed to qualify.

Controversions

* 1976: :During the selection for the

Dutch Olympic Sailing Team The Dutch were in most of the Olympic sailing competitions represented by the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team. The selection of the members of the team was done by the Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond (KNWV) or its predecessor. With the except ...

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 Ferdinand "Fred" Helmuth Imhoff (born 15 February 1942 in The Hague) is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Kiel, Germany as helmsman in the Flying Dutchman ''Brave Henderik IV'' (H-230). Wit ...

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 Peter Vollebregt, all candidates for the 1976 Olympic sailing event, she was accused of 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 som ...

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 France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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, Erik Living people 1954 births Sportspeople from Leiden Dutch male sailors (sport) 470 class world champions Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Sailors at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Olympic sailors for 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