John Albrechtson (22 July 1936 – 27 August 1985) was a Swedish

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 ...

. Between 1968 and 1978 he won one Olympic gold medal and three gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the world championships.

Biography

Albrechtson started his sailing career in the

Stjärnbåt Stjärnbåt (lit. Star boat) is a sailboat class designed by Janne Jacobsson and built in about 530 copies. History A Janne Jacobsson-design won a design competition for a practise boat hosted by Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club in 1913. The Stjärn ...

class and moved on to

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

class in 1957. He won his first Star Swedish Championships in 1966. The same year, together with

Paul Elvstrøm Paul Bert Elvstrøm (25 February 1928 – 7 December 2016) was a Danish yachtsman. He won four Olympic gold medals and twenty world titles in a range of classes including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman, Finn, 505, and 5.5 Metre. ...

, he won the

Star World Championship The Star World Championship are international sailing regattas in the Star class organized by the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association sanctioned by International Sailing Federation. American sailor Lowell North has won the most ...

. Between 1971 and 1978 Albrechtson competed in the

Tempest Tempest is a synonym for a storm. '' The Tempest'' is a play by William Shakespeare. Tempest or The Tempest may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''The Tempest'' (1908 film), a British silent film * ''The Tempest'' (1911 film), a ...

class. 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 ...

he won the Olympic gold medal together with Ingvar Hansson. He also competed at the

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

and

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, placing ninth and fourth, respectively."John Albrechtson biography and olympic results"
''sports-reference.com'' (Retrieved on 5 November 2009) At the 1980 Games he was part of Swedish reserve team. Albrechtson committed suicide in

Västra Frölunda Västra Frölunda, sometimes referred to as just Frölunda, is one of 21 boroughs in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is located in the south western part of the city, and is the smallest of the boroughs with a population of 12,855 (2004) on 3.7 ...

aged 49.

External links

References

1936 births 1985 suicides 1985 deaths Sailors (sport) from Gothenburg Swedish male sailors (sport) Olympic sailors for Sweden Sailors at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Star Sailors at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Tempest Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Tempest Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in sailing World champions in sailing for Sweden Tempest class world champions Star class world champions Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club sailors Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Suicides in Sweden {{Sweden-yachtracing-bio-stub