Helmer Pedersen

Helmer Pedersen medal table
sailing
Denmark New Zealand
Olympic games
gold	Tokyo 1964	Flying Dutchman

Helmer Orla Leif Pedersen (born March 28, 1930 in Copenhagen , † August 24, 1987 ) was a Danish - New Zealand sailor .

successes

Helmer Pedersen did not get beyond a reserve role in the Danish team at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 . In the mid-1950s, he emigrated to New Zealand with his wife. Although he was also accepted into the New Zealand Olympic team, in 1960 he remained only a reservist. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 , he finally took part for the first time, when he started with the Flying Dutchman . At the side of Earle Wells he won the competition before the British Tony Morgan and Keith Musto and the Americans William Bentsen and Harry Melges , so that Pedersen and Wells were Olympic champions . Subsequently, Pedersen, who worked as a sailmaker, mainly sailed in offshore regattas.

In 1987, Pedersen, who was a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer . Three years later, Pedersen and Wells were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame .

Web links

• Helmer Pedersen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Helmer Pedersen at the New Zealand Olympic Committee (English)