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Early Olympic Sailing Competitions

Sailing has been a part of the Olympics since the inaugural games in 1896. Sailing races, which have been contested in various categories and classes within each category, have underwent several changes over the course of the history of the Olympics. Many classes have been discontinued in favor of new ones.



Several eventsĀ  of the Ton classes were held in 1900 which were all discontinued right after. Two Square Meter Skerry Cruiser classes were held only once in 1920. Various Meter classes events were held until 1936. At least one Monotype class event was contested between 1920 and 1936 after which the entire category was discontinued.

In the Dinghy category, the Flying Dutchman class was held for nine straight Olympics from 1960 to 1992 after which it was discontinued. A star class Keelboat event was held twice, in 1932 and 1936. After a break, the event was brought back for the 1948 games and was a part of the program for 16 Olympics until 2012 and has been dropped from future games.

sailing race sailing race

A Tornado class Multihull event was held nine straight games from 1976 to 2008 and has since been dropped from the program. After experimenting with three different classes in the Sailboard category from 1984-92, a fourth class, Mistral One Design Class was picked for three straight games from 1996-2004 and then dropped.



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