# Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece). With the exception of 1904 and possibly the cancelled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 2008 consisted of a total of nine sailing classes (eleven disciplines). Eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled from 9 August 2008 to 21 August 2008 of the coast of the Qingdao International Sailing Centre facing the Yellow Sea. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening races and one as a medal race. The sailing was done on four different types of courses.

## Venue

According to the IOC statutes the contests in all sport disciplines must be held either in, or as close as possible to the city which the IOC has chosen. Among others, an exception is made for the Olympic yachting events, which customarily must be staged on the open sea. On account of this principle, Qingdao was selected for the honor to carry out the Olympic yachting regattas. For that purpose the Qingdao International Sailing Centre was constructed.

### Course areas

A total of five race areas were set on the Yellow Sea of the coast of Qingdao. The location points to the center of the 0.6 nm radius circle for course area A & B and to a 0.75 nm radius circle for course area's C D and E.

## Competition
### Overview

| Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
| 6 | 62 | 11 | 272 | 261 | 139 |

### Continents

* Africa
* Asia
* Oceania
* Europe
* North America
* South America

### Countries

| Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1972 Olympic Games. Blue: Water Gray: Never participated in OG Dark Gray: Participated in earlier OG Green: Country participated for the first time Dark Blue: Country participated also on previous games Red: Country boycotted the sailing event of the OG | Argentina (ARG) Australia (AUS) Austria (AUT) Barbados (BAR)  Belgium (BEL) Belarus (BLR) Brazil (BRA) Bulgaria (BUL)  Canada (CAN) Chile (CHI) China (CHN) Colombia (COL)  Croatia (CRO) Cyprus (CYP) Czech Republic (CZE) Denmark (DEN)  Dominican Republic (DOM) Spain (ESP) Estonia (EST) Finland (FIN)  France (FRA) Great Britain (GBR) Germany (GER) Greece (GRE)  Guatemala (GUA) Hong Kong (HKG) Hungary (HUN) Indonesia (INA)  India (IND) Ireland (IRL) Israel (ISR) Virgin Islands (ISV)  Italy (ITA) Japan (JPN) South Korea (KOR) Lithuania (LTU)  Luxembourg (LUX) Malaysia (MAS) Mexico (MEX) Netherlands (NED)  Norway (NOR) New Zealand (NZL) Paraguay (PAR) Peru (PER)  Poland (POL) Portugal (POR) South Africa (RSA) Russia (RUS)  Seychelles (SEY) Singapore (SIN) Slovenia (SLO) Switzerland (SUI)  Slovakia (SVK) Sweden (SWE) Thailand (THA) Chinese Taipei (TPE)  Turkey (TUR) United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ukraine (UKR) Uruguay (URU)  United States (USA) Venezuela (VEN) |

### Classes (equipment)

| Class | Type | Sailors | Trapeze | Mainsail | Jib/Genoa | Spinnaker | First OG | Olympics so far |
| RS:X | Sailboard | 1 | - | + | - | - | 2008 | 1 |
| RS:X | Sailboard | 1 | - | + | - | - | 2008 | 1 |
| Laser Radial | Dinghy | 1 | - | + | - | - | 2008 | 1 |
| Laser | Dinghy | 1 | - | + | - | - | 1996 | 4 |
| Finn | Dinghy | 1 | 0 | + | – | – | 1952 | 15 |
| 470 | Dinghy | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1988 | 6 |
| 470 | Dinghy | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1976 | 9 |
| 49er | Dinghy | 2 | 2 | + | + | + | 2000 | 3 |
| Tornado | Multihull | 2 | 2 | + | + | + | 1976 | 9 |
| Yngling | Keelboat | 3 | 0 | + | + | + | 2004 | 2 |
| Star | Keelboat | 2 | 0 | + | + | – | 1932 | 17 |

## Race schedule

| ● | Opening ceremony | ● | Practice race | ● | Race | ● | Medal race | ● | Closing ceremony |
| Date | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August |
| Date | 7 Thu | 8 Fri | 9 Sat | 10 Sun | 11 Mon | 12 Tue | 13 Wed | 14 Thu | 15 Fri | 16 Sat | 17 Sun | 18 Mon | 19 Tue | 20 Wed | 21 Thu | 22 Fri | 23 Sat | 24 Sun |
| Women's Practice race Men's Mixed | ● ● | | ● | ● ● ● ● | ● ● | | | ● ● | | | | | | | | | | |
| Women's Series Men's Mixed | | | 2 2 | 2 2 3 | 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 | 2 2 2 2 2 2 | 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 | 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 | 2 2 2 3 2 | 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 | 2 2 2 2 | 2 2 | 2 2 | 2 2 | | | | |
| Women's Medal races Men's Mixed | | | | | | | | | | ● ● | ● | ● ● | ● ● | ● ● | ● ● | | | |
| Total gold medals | | | | | | | | | | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | | | |
| Ceremonies | | ● | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ● |

## Medal summary
### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 2008: Women's RS:X details | China (CHN) Yin Jian | Italy (ITA) Alessandra Sensini | Great Britain (GBR) Bryony Shaw |
| 2008: Laser Radial details | United States (USA) Anna Tunnicliffe | Lithuania (LTU) Gintarė Volungevičiūtė | China (CHN) Xu Lijia |
| 2008: Women's 470 details | Australia (AUS) Elise Rechichi Tessa Parkinson | Netherlands (NED) Marcelien de Koning Lobke Berkhout | Brazil (BRA) Fernanda Oliveira Isabel Swan |
| 2008: Yngling details | Great Britain (GBR) Sarah Ayton Sarah Webb Pippa Wilson | Netherlands (NED) Mandy Mulder Annemieke Bes Merel Witteveen | Greece (GRE) Sofia Bekatorou Virginia Kravarioti Sofia Papadopoulou |

### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 2008: Men's RS:X details | New Zealand (NZL) Tom Ashley | France (FRA) Julien Bontemps | Israel (ISR) Shahar Tzuberi |
| 2008: Laser details | Great Britain (GBR) Paul Goodison | Slovenia (SLO) Vasilij Žbogar | Italy (ITA) Diego Romero |
| 2008: Men's 470 details | Australia (AUS) Nathan Wilmot Malcolm Page | Great Britain (GBR) Nick Rogers Joe Glanfield | France (FRA) Nicolas Charbonnier Olivier Bausset |
| 2008: Star details | Great Britain (GBR) Iain Percy Andrew Simpson | Brazil (BRA) Robert Scheidt Bruno Prada | Sweden (SWE) Fredrik Lööf Anders Ekström |

### Open events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 2008: Finn details | Great Britain (GBR) Ben Ainslie | United States (USA) Zach Railey | France (FRA) Guillaume Florent |
| 2008: 49er details | Denmark (DEN) Jonas Warrer Martin Kirketerp | Spain (ESP) Iker Martínez de Lizarduy Xabier Fernández | Germany (GER) Jan-Peter Peckolt Hannes Peckolt |
| 2008: Tornado details | Spain (ESP) Antón Paz Fernando Echávarri | Australia (AUS) Darren Bundock Glenn Ashby | Argentina (ARG) Santiago Lange Carlos Espínola |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Great Britain (GBR) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Australia (AUS) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Spain (ESP) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | United States (USA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | China (CHN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Denmark (DEN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | New Zealand (NZL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | France (FRA) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 10 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Lithuania (LTU) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Slovenia (SLO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Argentina (ARG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Germany (GER) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Greece (GRE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Israel (ISR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (18 entries) | Totals (18 entries) | 11 | 11 | 11 | 33 |