Derek Jago competed in the men’s Tempest class two-person keelboat at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games alongside David Wilkins, finishing 10th overall – the highest placing of the three Irish sailing crews at those Games.

A Cork native and member of the Royal St George Yacht Club, Jago was selected as crew for Wilkins in the latest design Tempest, in which the maximum weight was placed in the hull rather than the keel, a configuration that was highly competitive in certain conditions. The combination had finished second at the European Championships before Montreal. The boat was unsuited to the fluky winds and unusual wave conditions at Kingston, Ontario, though their 10th place remained a creditable result.