On September 24, 1988, Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux was racing in the Finn class at the Seoul Olympics and was on course to finish second in that day’s race. The wind had kicked up to about 35 knots when he spotted a capsized boat on a nearby course. Two Singapore sailors, Shaw Her Siew and Joseph Chan, were in the water. Siew was clinging to the hull, and Chan, badly hurt, was about 20 meters away. Lemieux turned his boat around, dragged Chan aboard, rescued Siew, and held his boat against the wind until a Korean Navy boat arrived. His medal hopes were gone, but the IOC honored him with the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
