By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney
**Doubt has been cast over Australia’s famous victory in the America’s Cup in 1983 because a Dutch naval architect has claimed a role in it.**Peter Van Oossanen has claimed that he designed the boat’s famous winged keel in the Netherlands.
The rules of the America’s Cup state that yachts should be designed by citizens or residents of the country.
Australia’s 1983 America’s Cup win was seen as one of the country’s greatest sporting triumphs.
So ferocious were the celebrations following Australia’s victory that the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke said bosses who sacked workers for not turning up to work were bums.
Now a Dutch naval architect has come forward claiming that he designed the famous winged keel that helped propel Australia II to victory.
Peter Van Oossanen said he had grown tired of the Dutch design team being air-brushed out of history and that the record should be corrected.
But the businessman Alan Bond, who bankrolled the boat, said the winged-keel was 100% Australian and that any other suggestion was codswallop.