Sailing at the Summer Olympics

None

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. In 1988, the first exclusive women's sailing event was introduced. 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.

1896: A regatta of sailing boats was on the program for df=yes 1896 03 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 df=yes 1900 05 till df=yes for the inshore races on the river Seine. And one in Le Havre df=yes 1900 08 till df=yes 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 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 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.

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 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 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 30m2 class Fleet Open ● 1 40m2 class Fleet Open ● 1 French National Monotype 1924 Fleet Open ● 1 Snowbird Fleet Open ● 1 Star Fleet Open ●●(●) ●●●●●● ●●●●●● 18Fleet 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 12m2 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 ●●● 22Fleet Male ●●●●●●●●●Fleet Female ●●●●●●●●●Fleet Mixed ● Windglider Fleet Open ● 1 Division II Fleet Open ● 1 Lechner Fleet Male ● 2Fleet 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 ●● 7Fleet 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)1304(5)4 14(16)3344(3) 55555566678101011111110101010 205 Class 96 12 AUG All XI 1936 Berlin Kiel 4 AUG 16 AUG All XII 1940 Tokyo Yokohama harbour 21 SEP 6 OCT AllCancelled Helsinki Program not made Cancelled XIII 1944 Olympics suspended XIV 1948 London Torquay 4 AUG 12 AUG All XV 1952 Helsinki Harmaja 20 JUL 28 JUL All XVI 1956 Melbourne Port Phillip Bay 26 NOV 5 DEC All XVII 1960 Rome Naples 29 AUG 7 SEP All XVIII 1964 Tokyo Enoshima 12 OCT 23 OCT All XIX 1968 Mexico City Acapulco 13 OCT 25 OCT All XX 1972 Munich Kiel 29 AUG 8 SEP All XXI 1976 Montreal Kingston, Ontario 18 JUL 31 JUL All XXII 1980 Moscow Tallinn, Soviet occupied Estonia 21 JUL 29 JUL All XXIII 1984 Los Angeles Long Beach, California 31 JUL 8 AUG All XXIV 1988 Seoul Busan 20 SEP 27 SEP All XXV 1992 Barcelona Barcelona 27 JUL 4 AUG All XXVI 1996 Atlanta Savannah, Georgia 22 JUL 2 AUG All XXVII 2000 Sydney Sydney 17 SEP 30 SEP All XXVIII 2004 Athens Athens 14 AUG 28 AUG All XXIX 2008 Beijing Qingdao 9 AUG 21 AUG All XXX 2012 London Weymouth and Portland 28 JUL 11 AUG All XXXI 2016 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 8 AUG 18 AUG All XXXII 2020 Tokyo Enoshima 25 July 2021 4 AUG 2021 All

This list includes Olympic medals in years up to and including 2020.

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.