Sailing at the Summer Olympics explained

Size:	150
Code:	SAL
Sport:	sailing
Menevents:	4
Mixedevents:	2
Womenevents:	4

Sailing (also known as yachting until 2000) has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions. Apart from the 1904 Summer Olympics, sailing has been present in every edition of the Olympic Games.

• For the scoring system used for sailing events during the Olympics look at: Scoring systems for Sailing at the Summer Olympics
• A directory page to all Olympic sailors is given at: List of sailors at the Summer Olympics
• Information about the Sailing at specific Summer Olympics or the used equipment can be found using the table below:
• Gender – Until 1988, sailing was a gender neutral 'open' sport where male and female sailors competed together. Even in 1900, several women participated at the Olympic sailing regattas. The exception to this is the post-World War II 1948 Olympics where the IOC decided the events should only be open to male sailors.^[1] In 1988, the first exclusive women's sailing event was introduced.^[2] Sailing was also one of the first sports to introduce a compulsory mixed gender events in 2016 the Mixed Multihull was introduced.
• Discipline – Most of the Olympic sailing competitions were done in what is called a fleet race format. At some Olympics, however, was also the match race format, or a mixed fleet/match race format.
• Classes – Over time, different classes of boat featured at the Olympics. Initially, the classes were specified in tons, then later in meters, feet or generic names. For the discontinued classes, the Vintage Yachting Games were introduced in 2008.
• Medal Tables – Great Britain leads the Olympic sailing medal ranking table.

Summary

Games	Year	Events	Best Nation
1		colspan="2"
2		13	(1)
3
4		4	(1)
5		4	(1)
6
7		14	(2)
8		3	(3)
9		3	(4)
10		4	(1)
11		4	(1)
12
13
14		5	(2)
15		5	(3)
16		5	(1)
17		5	(1)
18		5	(1)
19		5	(4)
20		6	(1)
21		6	(1)
22		6	(1)
23		7	(5)
24		8	(2)
25		10	(1)
26		10	(2)
27		11	(2)
28		11	(3)
29		11	(4)
30		10	(2)
31		10	(5)
32		10	(6)
33		10	(1)

Timeline

• 1896: A regatta of sailing boats was on the program for in Athens. However this event had to be given up since there were no boats available from Greece and no foreign entries.
• 1900: Two venues were used to host the 1900 Sailing events. One in Meulan till for the inshore races on the river Seine. And one in Le Havre till for the Offshore races on the English Channel. In Meulan six classes were used over several days. About 55 boats and a little less than 150 sailors are documented, included the first female gold medalist Hélène de Pourtalès. In Le Havre two classes were used for the offshore event. About 10 boats made the competition. Crewmembers were not documented, just the owners and/or helmsmen.
• 1904: Sailing was not a part of the Olympic program.
• 1908: At the 1907 The Hague Conference of the IOC Ryde at the Isle of Wight was appointed to host the sailing regattas, for all classes, of the games of the IVth Olympiad. However, when there were only two British entries for the 12 Metre matches, and both yachts were located at the Firth of Clyde, the decision was made to use Hunters Quay as a second venue. In 1906 international meetings were organized to solve the problem of the differences in the performance of the different yachts. Finally in Paris, October 1907 the first International Rule was ratified. During the meeting in 1907 the IOC made the decision to use the International Rule classes for the Olympic regattas (6, 7, 8 and 12 Metre).
• 1912: When Sweden was assigned to host the 1912 Olympic Games two cities wanted to be the venue for the sailing program. Gothenburg and Stockholm. Gothenburg claimed that it was a much shorter passage for the overseas entries (about 525nmi less) than it was to Stockholm. Stockholm however got the sailing program because of then all Olympic events should be in the same vicinity. As specific location Nynäshamn, about 60km (40miles) from Stockholm was chosen. Also the decision was made to use the International Rule classes again for the Olympic regattas (6, 8, 10 and 12 Metre).
• 1920: When Antwerp was assigned to host the 1920 Olympic Games, Ostend was appointed for the sailing contests. Ostend – "The Queen of the Belgian sea-side resorts" – offers fair condition for sailing on the North Sea. Although there are tidal conditions the current is reasonable predictable. Local knowledge does not have too much influence on the races. The wind conditions are also good for sailing. In the case of the 1920 Summer Olympic regatta's the prevailing breeze did not show. Most races had to be sailed under light air conditions. The competition was open for a total of sixteen classes. Two classes had a "No show".
• 1924: After the massive number of classes used four years earlier only three classes were selected for the 1924 Olympics. Again there was a one design class. The two other classes were construction classes of the International Metre type. Two locations were used: Meulan was the venue for the Olympic regatta's in the French National Monotype. The host club for the 1924 Olympic Sailing at Meulan was the Cercle de la Voile de Paris. The race conditions at Meulan during the Olympic regatta were not ideal. The light breeze during the first elimination series could hardly make the sailing interesting. Le Havre was the venue for the Olympic regattas for the 6 and 8 Metre. The host club for the 1924 Olympic Sailing at Le Havre was the Société des Régates du Havre. Due to the Easterly winds the courses at Le Havre were mostly reaches. Sailing a windward leg was not really tested. This however was more or less custom for that era. Furthermore, this was the first Olympic regatta were just one competing team per class per country was allowed.
• 1928: Like in the 1924 Olympics only three classes were chosen. There was the revival of the 12' Dinghy from the 1920 Olympics and again the proven 6 and 8 Metre classes. This Olympic sailing regatta can be considered as the first Olympic regatta with a high quality of racing since there were: Well selected classes that represented sailing; Sufficient competitors per class and good and fair sailing conditions. The only disadvantage was the daily passing of the Oranje Locks.

Olympic Classes & Events

Over the years the classes used in the Olympic Sailing Program were replaced from time to time. This table shows this development:

Class		Gender	96^[3]	00^[4]	04^[5]			16^[6]						40^[7]	44^[8]																					Sailed Events
Boats of the Royal Navy	Fleet	Male	(●)																																	0
0-½ ton	Fleet	Open		x2																																2
½-1 ton	Fleet	Open		x2																																2
1-2 ton	Fleet	Open		x2																																2
2-3 ton	Fleet	Open		x2																																2
3-10 ton	Fleet	Open		x2																																2
10-20 ton	Fleet	Open		●																																1
20+ ton	Fleet	Open		●																																1
Open class	Fleet	Open		●																																1
6 Metre (1907 Rule)	Fleet	Open				●	●		●																											10
6 Metre (1919 Rule)	Fleet	Open							●	●	●	●
6 Metre (1933 Rule)	Fleet	Open											●	(●)			●
6 Metre (1933 Rule)	Fleet	Male														●
6.5 Metre	Fleet	Open							●																											1
7 Metre	Fleet	Open				●			●																											2
8 Metre (1907 Rule)	Fleet	Open				●	●		●																											8
8 Metre (1919 Rule)	Fleet	Open							●	●	●	●
8 Metre (1933 Rule)	Fleet	Open											●
8.5 Metre	Fleet	Open							(●)																											0
9 Metre	Fleet	Open							(●)																											0
10 Metre (1907 Rule)	Fleet	Open					●		●																											3
10 Metre (1919 Rule)	Fleet	Open							●
12 Metre (1907 Rule)	Fleet	Open				●	●		●																											4
12 Metre (1919 Rule)	Fleet	Open							●
15 Metre (1907 Rule)	Fleet	Open				(●)																														0
12 foot dinghy	Fleet	Open							●		●			(●)																						2
18 foot dinghy	Fleet	Open							●																											1
30m^2 class	Fleet	Open							●																											1
40m^2 class	Fleet	Open							●																											1
French National Monotype 1924	Fleet	Open								●																										1
Snowbird	Fleet	Open										●																								1
Star	Fleet	Open										●	●	(●)			●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●							18
	Fleet	Male														●														●	●	●
O-Jolle	Fleet	Open											●																							1
Dragon	Fleet	Open															●	●	●	●	●	●														7
	Fleet	Male														●
Swallow	Fleet	Male														●																				1
Firefly	Fleet	Male														●																				1
Finn	Fleet	Open															●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●						●					18
	Fleet	Male																								●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●
5,5 Metre	Fleet	Open															●	●	●	●	●															5
Sharpie 12m^2	Fleet	Open																●																		1
Flying Dutchman	Fleet	Open																	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●									9
Soling	Fleet	Open																				●	●	●	●	●										8
	Fleet/ Match	Open																									●	●	●
Tempest	Fleet	Open																				●	●													2
Tornado	Fleet	Open																					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●					9
470	Fleet	Open																					●	●	●											22
	Fleet	Male																								●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
	Fleet	Female																								●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
	Fleet	Mixed																																	●
Windglider	Fleet	Open																							●											1
Division II	Fleet	Open																								●										1
Lechner	Fleet	Male																									●									2
	Fleet	Female																									●
Europe	Fleet	Female																									●	●	●	●						4
Mistral	Fleet	Open																										●	●	●						6
	Fleet	Female																										●	●	●
ILCA 7 (Laser)	Fleet	Open																										●	●	●						8
	Fleet	Male																													●	●	●	●	●
ILCA 6 (Laser Radial)	Fleet	Female																													●	●	●	●	●	5
49er	Fleet	Open																											●	●						7
	Fleet	Male																													●	●	●	●	●
49er FX	Fleet	Female																															●	●	●	3
Yngling	Fleet	Female																												●	●					2
RS:X	Fleet	Male																													●	●	●	●		8
	Fleet	Female																													●	●	●	●
Elliott 6m	Match	Female																														●				1
Nacra 17	Fleet	Mixed																															●	●	●	3
iQFoil	Fleet	Male																																	●	2
	Fleet	Female																																	●
Formula Kite	Fleet	Male																																	●	2
	Fleet	Female																																	●
Total			(1)	13	0	4 (5)	4		14 (16)	3	3	4	4	(3)		5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	7	8	10	10	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	205
Class					04			16						40	44																					Sailed Events

Gender Criteria: Open events have no gender requirements where as mixed events require male and female competitors
Events Notes: Events in "" Brackets were scheduled but did not take place and therefore not included in the totals

Boat types

Boat type			04			16						40	44																					Sailed Events
Dinghy / Centreboard							●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	26
Skiff (dinghy type)																											●	●	●	●	●	●	●	5
Keelboats							●			●	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●				21
Yachts / Sail cruisers	●	●		●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●																			11
Multihull (dinghy-sized)																					●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	10
Sailboard (windsurfing)																							●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	11
Kiteboard (kitesurfing)																																	●	1
One-Design / Monotype							?	●	?	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	24
Construction class Development class	?	?		●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●															14

Race types

Race type			04			16						40	44																					Editions
Fleet	●	●		●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	30
Match																														●W				1
Combined																									●	●	●							3
Relay																																		0

Olympic sailing venues

See main article: List of Olympic venues in sailing. Pictures will be replaced by more relevant photos.

Edition	Year	Host	City	Sailing venue	Opening	Closing	View	Classes
scope"row"	I					1-APR	1-APR		Cancelled
scope"rowgroup" rowspan="2"	II	1900				20-MAY	27-MAY		All, except ...
	1-AUG				5-AUG		10–20 ton
scope"row"	III	1904		St. Louis	Not programmed
scope"rowgroup" rowspan="2"	IV	1908				27-JUL	29-JUL		6 Metre 7 Metre 8 Metre
	11-AUG				12-AUG		12 Metre
scope"row"	V					19-JUL	22-JUL		All
scope"row"	VI	1916		Berlin	Probably not programmed
scope"rowgroup" rowspan="2"	VII	1920				7-JUL	10-JUL		All, except...
	SEP				SEP		Finals 12 foot dinghy
scope"rowgroup" rowspan="2"	VIII	1924				10-JUL	13-JUL		French National Monotype 1924
	21-JUL				26-JUL		6 Metre 8 Metre
scope"row"	IX					2-AUG	9-AUG		All
scope"row"	X					5-AUG^[9]	12-AUG		All
scope"row"	XI					4-AUG	16-AUG		All
scope"rowgroup" rowspan="2"	XII	1940				21-SEP	6-OCT		All Cancelled
	Helsinki		Program not made				Cancelled
scope"row"	XIII	1944	Olympics suspended
scope"row"	XIV					4-AUG	12-AUG		All
scope"row"	XV					20-JUL	28-JUL		All
scope"row"	XVI					26-NOV	5-DEC		All
scope"row"	XVII					29-AUG	7-SEP		All
scope"row"	XVIII					12-OCT	23-OCT		All
scope"row"	XIX					13-OCT	25-OCT		All
scope"row"	XX					29-AUG	8-SEP		All
scope"row"	XXI					18-JUL	31-JUL		All
scope"row"	XXII					21-JUL	29-JUL		All
scope"row"	XXIII					31-JUL	8-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXIV					20-SEP	27-SEP		All
scope"row"	XXV					27-JUL	4-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXVI					22-JUL	2-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXVII					17-SEP	30-SEP		All
scope"row"	XXVIII					14-AUG	28-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXIX					9-AUG	21-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXX					28-JUL	11-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXXI					8-AUG	18-AUG		All
scope"row"	XXXII					25-JUL 2021	4-AUG 2021		All^[10]
scope"row"	XXXIII					28-JUL	8-AUG		All

Medal table

Updated as of Paris 2024 Olympics.

See also: List of Olympic medalists in sailing.

Nations

This table is based upon the names of the sailors who are documented in the Official Olympic Reports.

The last column shows the total number of competitors sent from each country.

Sailors		579		65	110	101	74	129	58	169	216	230	140	287	223	247	315	250	153	298	373	442	458	402	400	400	380	380	350		7229
Sailors – Male		577		63	110	101	73	127	58	166	216	228	140	287	223	247	315	250	153	296	330	360	358	308	261	261	237	257	175		6177
Sailors – Female		2		2	0	0	1	2	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	43	82	100	94	139	139	143	123	175		1052
Sailors – First Games
Countries		7		5	6	6	19	22	11	26	23	29	28	47	40	40	42	40	23	60	60	68	78	69	61	62	63	66	64		39 Mean
New countries		7		3	3	0	10	5	1	8	2	3	7	11	5	5	2	3	3	14	5	11	12	1	0	2	3	1	3		130
Events Held		13		4	4	14	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	7	8	10	10	11	11	11	10	10	10		195 Gold Medals
Boats		162		13	20	6	32	41	23	59	75	93	71	138	109	123	151	127	83	171	214	271	312	273	268	272	273	274	250		3904
Average class size		10		3.3	6	1.7	10.3	13.7	5.8	14.8	15	18.6	14.2	27.6	21.8	24.6	25.17	21.17	13.83	24.43	26.75	27.1	31.2	24.82	24.36	24.73	27.3	27.4	25		19 Mean
Average team size		1.3		5	4.6	4.3	2.3	3.3	2.3	2.9	2.9	2.4	2.2	6.11	5.58	6.18	7.5	6.25	6.65	4.97	6.22	5.15	5.87	5.83	6.56	6.45	6.03	5.76	5.47		5 Mean

• Early Olympic do not have complete data so some assumption on crew sizes and gender have been made to give a better indication of the number of people involved.

Multiple gold medalists

Briton Ben Ainslie and Brazilians Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt are the only Olympic sailors with five Olympic medals. The most successful sailor is Ainslie with four gold medals and one silver, one of only four athletes to win four consecutive gold medals in individual events.

Position	Sailor	Country	Period	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Classes
1	Ben Ainslie		1996–2012	4	1	0	5	ILCA 7 (Laser)/Finn
2	Paul Elvstrøm		1948–1960	4	0	0	4	Firefly/Finn
3	Jochen Schümann		1976–2000	3	1	0	4	Finn/Soling
	Valentin Mankin		1968–1980	3	1	0	4	Finn/Tempest/Star
5	Robert Scheidt		1996–2012	2	2	1	5	ILCA 7 (Laser)/Star
6	Torben Grael		1984–2004	2	1	2	5	Soling/Star
7	Marit Bouwmeester		2012–2024	2	1	1	4	ILCA 6 (Laser)
8	Hannah Mills		2012–2020	2	1	0	3	470
	Iain Percy		2000–2012	2	1	0	3	Finn/Star
	Magnus Konow		1912–1936	2	1	0	3	12 Metre/8 Metre/6 Metre
	Mark Reynolds		1988–2000	2	1	0	3	Star
	Mathew Belcher		2012–2020	2	1	0	3	470
	Rodney Pattisson		1968–1976	2	1	0	3	Flying Dutchman
14	Tore Holm		1920–1948	2	0	2	4	40m^2 class/8 Metre/6 Metre
15	Marcelo Ferreira		1996–2004	2	0	1	3	Star
16	Algernon Maudslay		1900	2	0	0	2
	Bernd Jäkel		1988-1996	2	0	0	2	Soling
	Dorian van Rijsselberghe		2012–2016	2	0	0	2
	Erik Hansen		1976–1980	2	0	0	2	Soling
	Frédéric Blanchy		1900	2	0	0	2
	John Gretton		1900	2	0	0	2
	Giles Scott		2016–2020	2	0	0	2	Finn
	Håkon Barfod		1948-1952	2	0	0	2	Dragon
	Herman Whiton		1948–1952	2	0	0	2	6 Metre
	Jacques Le Lavasseur		1900	2	0	0	2
	Kahena Kunze		2016–2020	2	0	0	2
	Linton Hope		1900	2	0	0	2	.5 to 1 ton
	Luis Doreste Blanco		1984-1992	2	0	0	2	470/Flying Dutchman
	Malcolm Page		2008–2012	2	0	0	2	470
	Martine Grael		2016–2020	2	0	0	2
	Nicolas Hénard		1988-1992	2	0	0	2	Tornado
	Poul Richard Høj Jensen		1976-1980	2	0	0	2	Soling
	Roman Hagara		2000-2004	2	0	0	2	Tornado
	Sarah Ayton		2004–2008	2	0	0	2	Yngling
	Sarah Webb		2004–2008	2	0	0	2	Yngling
	Shirley Robertson		1992–2004	2	0	0	2	Europe/Yngling
	Sigve Lie		1948–1952	2	0	0	2	Dragon
	Theresa Zabell		1992–1996	2	0	0	2	470
	Thor Thorvaldsen		1948–1952	2	0	0	2	Dragon
	William Exshaw		1900	2	0	0	2	2 to 3 ton
	Valdemar Bandolowski		1976–1980	2	0	0	2	Soling
	Matthew Wearn		2020–2024	2	0	0	2	ILCA 7 (Laser)

See also

• Sailing at the Summer Paralympics
• List of Olympic medalists in sailing
• Olympic sailing classes

External links

• Olympics.org Sailing Microsite
• Sailing at the Summer Olympics from Sports-Reference.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: 70 years ago this week: The story of singlehanded sailing at the London 1948 Olympics . Yachtsandyachting.com . 2020-02-27.
2. Web site: 2012 London Olympic Sailing Competition. sailing.org. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130506041346/http://www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012/about/history. 2013-05-06.
3. It is unclear in what classes the races were scheduled.
4. In 1900 two races were held in the ½-ton, 1-2 Ton and 2-3 Ton classes. After each race, trophies were handed out, in addition to the ultimate winners receiving their Olympic medals.
5. Sailing was not included in the 1904 Olympic program.
6. It is not known in what classes the races were scheduled.
7. Program Tokio announced.
8. No program created.
9. This is the first time all Olympic events took place in one periode.
10. Web site: Sailing - Olympic Schedule & Results | Tokyo 2020.