# Sailing at the 1984 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 canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. sailing was always a part of the Olympic program. The Sailing program of 1984 consisted of a total of seven sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 31 July 1984 to 8 August 1984 of the coast of Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California at the Pacific Ocean. Los Angeles hosted the Olympic sailing competitions for the second time, having previously done so during the 1932 Summer Olympics. The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic 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. The sailing conditions off the coast of Los Angeles are very suitable for Olympic sailing.
A total of four race areas were created in the Pacific off the coast of Long Beach.
For the media a number of 40 boats was reserved. All boats were fully booked.

## Competition
### Overview

| Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
| 5 | 60 | 7 | 152 | 298 | 2 |

### Continents

* Africa
* Asia
* Oceania
* Europe
* Americas

### Countries

| Antigua and Barbuda (ANT) | Argentina (ARG) | Australia (AUS) |
| Austria (AUT) | Bahamas (BAH) | Barbados (BAR) |
| Belgium (BEL) | Bermuda (BER) | Botswana (BOT) |
| Brazil (BRA) | Canada (CAN) | Cayman Islands (CAY) |
| Chile (CHI) | China (CHN) | Denmark (DEN) |
| Dominican Republic (DOM) | Egypt (EGY) | Spain (ESP) |
| Fiji (FIJ) | Finland (FIN) | France (FRA) |
| West Germany (FRG) | Great Britain (GBR) | Greece (GRE) |
| Guatemala (GUA) | Hong Kong (HKG) | India (IND) |
| Ireland (IRL) | Iceland (ISL) | Israel (ISR) |
| Virgin Islands (ISV) | Italy (ITA) | British Virgin Islands (IVB) |
| Japan (JPN) | South Korea (KOR) | Mexico (MEX) |
| Malta (MLT) | Netherlands (NED) | Norway (NOR) |
| New Zealand (NZL) | Oman (OMA) | Pakistan (PAK) |
| Philippines (PHI) | Portugal (POR) | Puerto Rico (PUR) |
| Senegal (SEN) | Singapore (SIN) | San Marino (SMR) |
| Sri Lanka (SRI) | Switzerland (SUI) | Sweden (SWE) |
| Thailand (THA) | Chinese Taipei (TPE) | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) |
| Turkey (TUR) | Uruguay (URU) | United States (USA) |
| Venezuela (VEN) | Yugoslavia (YUG) | Zimbabwe (ZIM) |

### 1984 Olympic Boycott

The Los Angeles boycott by the Soviet Union and its satellites influenced some sailing events. In the Soling the silver and bronze medalists of the 1984 worlds were missing (SR33, Boris Budnikov, Gennadi Strakh and Oleg Miron and DDR4, Helmar Nauck, Norbert Helriegel and Sven Diedering). In the Flying Dutchman the Soviet team of Sergey Borodinov and Vladyslav Akimenko were absent.

### Classes (equipment)

| Class | Type | Discipline | Gender | Sailors | Trapeze | Mainsail | Jib/Genoa | Spinnaker | First OG | Olympics so far |
| Windglider | Surfboard | Fleet | Open | 1 | 0 | + | – | – | 1984 | 1 |
| Finn | Dinghy | Fleet | Open | 1 | 0 | + | – | – | 1952 | 9 |
| 470 | Dinghy | Fleet | Open | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1976 | 3 |
| Flying Dutchman | Dinghy | Fleet | Open | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1960 | 7 |
| Tornado | Catamaran | Fleet | Open | 2 | 1 | + | + | – | 1976 | 3 |
| Star | Keelboat | Fleet | Open | 2 | 0 | + | + | – | 1932 | 11 |
| Soling | Keelboat | Fleet | Open | 3 | 0 | + | + | + | 1972 | 4 |

## Medal summary

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1984: Windglider details | Netherlands (NED) Stephan van den Berg | United States (USA) Scott Steele | New Zealand (NZL) Bruce Kendall |
| 1984: Finn details | New Zealand (NZL) Russell Coutts | United States (USA) John Bertrand | Canada (CAN) Terry Neilson |
| 1984: 470 details | Spain (ESP) Luis Doreste Roberto Molina | United States (USA) Steve Benjamin Chris Steinfeld | France (FRA) Thierry Peponnet Luc Pillot |
| 1984: Flying Dutchman details | United States (USA) Jonathan McKee William Carl Buchan | Canada (CAN) Terry McLaughlin Evert Bastet | Great Britain (GBR) Jonathan Richards Peter Allam |
| 1984: Tornado details | New Zealand (NZL) Rex Sellers Chris Timms | United States (USA) Randy Smyth Jay Glaser | Australia (AUS) Christopher Cairns Scott Anderson |
| 1984: Star details | United States (USA) William Earl Buchan Steven Erickson | West Germany (FRG) Joachim Griese Michael Marcour | Italy (ITA) Giorgio Gorla Alfio Peraboni |
| 1984: Soling details | United States (USA) Robbie Haines Rod Davis Ed Trevalyan | Brazil (BRA) Torben Grael Daniel Adler Ronaldo Senfft | Canada (CAN) Hans Fogh Stephen Calder John Kerr |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | New Zealand (NZL) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Netherlands (NED) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Spain (ESP) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (11 entries) | Totals (11 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |

## Remarks
### Demonstration events

* The Windglider event was held for men and women. The women's event was the first women-only sailing event in Olympic history. Karen Morch of Canada won the gold medal. In the men's event, the gold medal was won by the Australian Bruce Wylie.

### Sailors

During the sailing regattas at the 1984 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:
* Fiji (FIJ), Tony Philp The youngest competitor:(15 years, 48 days)
* Denmark (DEN), Paul Elvstrøm The oldest participant: (56 years, 158 days)
* New Zealand (NZL), Russell Coutts
* On Windglider: Tony Philp
* On Windglider: Bruce Kendall.