Olympic Games

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Sailing at the Olympics

Sailing has been one of the Olympic sports since the first Olympic Games. The first evernts in 1896 were cancelled, and it was not included in the 1904 program, but has been in every other Olympic program.

2012 London Games

There are two changes from the Beijing 2008 sailing events. A new event for the 2012 Summer Olympics is Women's Keelboat Match Racing, using the Elliott 6m. The Women's Match Race replaces the Yngling competition and the Tornado Class Catamaran competition has been dropped.

events

• 470 - Men
• 470 - Women
• 49er - Mixed
• Match racing - Women
• Finn - Men
• Laser - Men
• Laser Radial - Women
• RS:X - Men
• RS:X - Women
• Star - Men

Trivia

• Sailing at the Olympic Games was known as yachting until 1996.

• Sailing was scheduled for the first Olympics, however the races had to be canceled due to severe weather conditions.

• The sailing regattas in Paris in 1900 took place in two locations, though both on the Seine. This was due to the big draught of certain boats which prevented them from navigating the river.

• At the 1912 Games the 6m class yacht race winner was the French winner "Mac Miche", crewed by the three Thube brothers. 

• For the first and only time in Olympic history, in 1920 the 12-foot dinghy event in sailing was held in two different countries. The early races were held in Belgium, but final two races in the event were held in the Netherlands, as the only two competitors in the event were Dutch.

• Women competed with the men in the early Olympic sailing races and all events remained mixed until the 1988 Games when the first exclusively women’s race was held.

• Sailing is one of only two Olympic sports where men and women compete against each other, (though in sailing it is only the 49er class that is still open to both sexes). The other sport is equestrian.

• Ralph Craig of the USA was 23 years old when he won gold medals in the 100m and 200m sprints in 1912. He returned to Olympic competition 36 years later, to compete in the yachting competition at the 1948 Olympics.

• The Olympic Yachting events in 1932 took place in the Pacific Ocean directly off the Port of Los Angeles.

• The best all-time performing Sailing athlete at the Olympic Games is Danish sailor Paul Bert Elvstrøm who won 4 golds between 1948–1960.(results up until 2012). See more on the Greatest Sailors at the Olympics.

Related Pages

• more about the sport of Sailing
• List of Olympic Sports