Peter Dix competed in the men’s 470 class two-person dinghy at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games alongside his cousin Robert Dix, finishing 23rd of 28 boats. Members of the Malahide Yacht Club, the Dix cousins were 470 specialists who competed successfully in a number of 470 regattas prior to the Games, most notably finishing 5th at the Weymouth Olympic Week Regatta in 1975 in a 100-strong fleet.

After the Montreal Games Peter Dix joined the British Army, serving with the Royal Inniskilling Volunteers, and after retiring established a London-based management consultancy. He was killed on 21 December 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103, on which he was a passenger, was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in Scotland.