Sailing at the 1900 Summer Olympics explained

Event:Sailing
Games:1900 Summer
Dates: – (Meulan)
– (Le Havre)
Competitors:about 150
(including 1 woman)
Teams:64
Team Descriptor:Boats
Nations:6
Next:1908

Sailing/Yachting made its first appearance as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics after competitions were cancelled at the 1896 Olympics. With the exception of 1904, sailing was thereafter always a part of the Olympic program. The sailing program in 1900 consisted of a total of eight sailing classes. For six classes, the races were scheduled from 20 – 27 May at the river Seine around Meulan, and several series of three races were held for the largest classes from 1–5 August on the North Atlantic off the coast of Le Havre. Approximately 150 sailors in 64 boats (the numbers of boats and competitors are not reliable, as in the official report some figures of the World exhibition and the Olympic Games are mixed) from 6 nations competed, including 1 woman, Hélène de Pourtalès, who won a gold medal in the 1 to 2 ton.[1]

Venues

During the early years of the Olympic movement there were no strict rules for the assignment of venues. For the Olympic sailing in 1900 the organizers decided to combine the Olympic sailing for the smaller yachts with the regattas of the Exposition Universelle on the river Seine near Meulan. For the larger yachts an Olympic regatta was held at Le Havre.

Meulan

Cercle de la Voile de Paris
Bassin Olympique
de Meulan Les Mureaux
Status:complete
Altitude:Sealevel
Building Type:Club House
Owner:Cercle de la Voile de Paris
Address:30, quai Albert Glandaz
Location Town:78130 Les Mureaux
Coordinates:49.0003°N 1.915°W

During the Olympic regattas of the Exposition Universelle of 1900 there were more than 100 yachts racing from Paris, Rouen, Cannes, Nantes and Arcachon and yachts from England, Germany, the United States and Holland. The Bassin Olympique was the river Seine near the Cercle de la Voile de Paris that served as the Olympic harbor.

The race conditions at Meulan during the Olympic regatta were not ideal. A light breeze could hardly make the sailing interesting. Since the river Seine mainly runs from east to west, the light north-easterly breeze was partly blocked by buildings or trees on the river bank, thus heavily influencing the regatta.

Le Havre

During the second part of the Olympic regatta the Atlantic Ocean was used for the races of the 10 – 20 ton and the 20+ ton yachts. The conditions during the regatta were so good that the 10 – 20 Ton class was able to sail the complete 22 nautical mile triangular course. The premises of the Société des Régates du Havre were used as Olympic harbor.

La Société des Régates du Havre
Le Havre
Status:destroyed
Altitude:Sealevel
Building Type:Club House
Owner:La Société des Régates du Havre
Coordinates:49.4917°N 0.0958°W

Course areas

Since there were two venues there were two course areas. One the river Seine near Meulan. Here the organization could set courses of 8,. The other course area was on the North Atlantic off the coats of Le Havre. Here courses could be set up to 40nmi.

Participating nations

6 nations sent sailors. Several teams had crews from multiple countries, and in one case, they won a gold medal. This team, of the United Kingdom and France, is attributed as a mixed team.

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Classes (equipment)

Sailing during the turn of the century was not as well defined as it became later during the 20th century. Racing rules were mostly defined by local yacht clubs or in some cases by a National Yachting Federation. Also, boats were not standardized to what are now called One Design or One Builder classes. Therefore, many handicap systems or systems that put yachts into different categories were used. In 1892, Auguste Godinet developed a formula that placed different boats in different Ton categories. This rule was adopted by the Union des yachts français and later by several other National Yachting Federations such as the Société Nautique de Genève. For the sailing at the 1900 Olympics this rule was chosen to determine the tonnage of a yacht.

For the smallest class, 0 – ½ Ton, among others, Larks were used. These Larks, copies of the Davis Lark and of the Sorceress designed by Linton Hope, became famous One Designs in France (Monotype de Chatou at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Olympics were open for the following classes:

- - ! Class Type Venue Event Sailors First OG Olympics so far - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 2 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 2 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 2 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 2 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Meulan Unknown 1900 2 - Undefined Le Havre Unknown 1900 1 - Undefined Le Havre Unknown 1900 1 - Legend: = Mixed gender event -

Race schedule

bgcolor=DodgerBlue align=center ● Meulan competition bgcolor=Lime align=center ● Le Havre competition

Medal summary

The results of the individual races are known; however, in the past there has not been consensus on which races were considered "Olympic" and thus who the Olympic medalists were. The Official Report, International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and Sports Reference present different medalists. The IOC has never decided which events were "Olympic" and which were not.[2] Occasionally, sources differ on the nationality of competitors (such as H. MacHenry, alternately listed as French or American). For example, the medalists in the 3 – 10 Ton races are shown in the various sources as:

-ReportRaceGoldSilverBronze - Official ReportRace 1Henri Gilardoni (FRA) Henri Smulders (NED) Maurice Gufflet (FRA) - Race 2Howard Taylor (GBR) Maurice Gufflet (FRA) H. MacHenry (FRA) - IOC and ISAFRace 2Howard Taylor (GBR) Maurice Gufflet (FRA) H. MacHenry (FRA) - Sports ReferenceRace 1Henri Gilardoni (FRA) Henri Smulders (NED) Maurice Gufflet (FRA) - Race 2Howard Taylor (GBR) Maurice Gufflet (FRA) H. MacHenry (USA)
In all classes at Meulan except the Open class, there were two distinct "finals." Boats were assigned time handicaps according to their weight within each class and prizes were handed out to the winners of each race. The IOC initially recognized the winner of the first race in each class as Olympic champion except in the case of the 10 – 20 ton class, which was decided on aggregate time over three races. However, currently the participants of both first and second races in three classes (0 – 0.5t, 1 – 2t and 2 – 3t) are present in the IOC database as medalists. That is, the second race in each of these three classes is recognized by the IOC and for each of these events two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals were retrospectively awarded by the IOC. In the 3 – 10 Ton race, however, only the second race winners are listed with Olympic medals.

The data below notes all races and medalists of the regattas of the Games of the second Olympiad, as well as of the Exposition Universelle and counts all winners as medalists, because the IOC website currently affirms a total of 95 medal events in the Games.[3]

-Open class
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0 to .5 ton
Race 1
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Pierre Gervais
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François Texier
Auguste Texier
Jean-Baptiste Charcot
Robert Linzeler
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Henri Monnot
Léon Tellier
Gaston Cailleux
-0 to .5 ton
Race 2
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Émile Sacré
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François Texier
Auguste Texier
Jean-Baptiste Charcot
Robert Linzeler
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Pierre Gervais
-.5 to 1 ton
Race 1
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Lorne Currie
John Gretton
Linton Hope
Algernon Maudslay
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Jules Valton
Félix Marcotte
William Martin
Jacques Baudrier
Jean Le Bret
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Émile Michelet
Marcel Meran
-.5 to 1 ton
Race 2
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Louis Auguste-Dormeuil
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Émile Michelet
Marcel Meran
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Jules Valton
Félix Marcotte
William Martin
Jacques Baudrier
Jean Le Bret
-1 to 2 ton
Race 1
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Hermann de Pourtalès
Hélène de Pourtalès
Bernard de Pourtalès
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François Vilamitjana
Auguste Albert
Albert Duval
Charles Hugo
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Jacques Baudrier
Lucien Baudrier
Dubosq
Édouard Mantois
-1 to 2 ton
Race 2
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Paul Wiesner
Georg Naue
Heinrich Peters
Ottokar Weise
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Hermann de Pourtalès
Hélène de Pourtalès
Bernard de Pourtalès
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François Vilamitjana
Auguste Albert
Albert Duval
Charles Hugo
-2 to 3 ton
Race 1
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Léon Susse
Jacques Doucet
Auguste Godinet
Henri Mialaret
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Ferdinand Schlatter
de Cottignon
Émile Jean-Fontaine
-2 to 3 ton
Race 2
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Léon Susse
Jacques Doucet
Auguste Godinet
Henri Mialaret
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Auguste Donny
-3 to 10 ton
Race 1
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Henri Gilardoni
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Henri Smulders
Chris Hooijkaas
Arie van der Velden
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Maurice Gufflet
A. Dubois
J. Dubois
Robert Gufflet
Charles Guiraist
-3 to 10 ton
Race 2
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Howard Taylor
Edward Hore
Harry Jefferson
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Maurice Gufflet
A. Dubois
J. Dubois
Robert Gufflet
Charles Guiraist
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H. MacHenry (USA)
-10 to 20 ton
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Émile Billard
Paul Perquer
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Jean, duc Decazes
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Edward Hore
-20+ ton
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Cecil Quentin
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Selwin Calverley
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Harry Van Bergen

Medal table

All races now considered official Olympic events, as IOC website affirms 95 total medal events.

Notes

There was some discussion about the validity of the Olympic status of Sailing at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Ian Buchanan, first president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, stated, "Given the possible awarding of cash prizes, the "Olympic status" of this sport in 1900 must be in question. It is not exactly certain if the prizes were cash or "objets d’art" of the values listed, thus, for now, I have retained yachting as an Olympic sport in 1900."

Other information

During the sailing regattas at the 1900 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing (or owning yachts) in the various classes:

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sailing at the 1900 Summer Olympics . Olympedia.org . 28 May 2020.
  2. Book: Karl. Lennartz. Walter. Teutenberg. Olympische Spiele 1900 in Paris. Agon-Sportverlag. Kassel, Germany. 1995. 147. 3-928562-20-7. In many works, it is read that the IOC later met to decide which events were Olympic and which were not. This is not correct and no decision has ever been made. No discussion of this item can be found in the account of any Session..
  3. Web site: Paris 1900. International Olympic Committee. 10 October 2017. 2 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171010120400/https://www.olympic.org/Paris-1900. live.