# Sailing at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the 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. The Sailing program of 1988 consisted of a total of eight sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 20 September 1988 to 27 September 1988 of the coast of Busan and was the first time that a separate event was allocated exclusively for women (sailed in the 470 class). 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. Since the sailing conditions of the coast near Seoul are not very suitable for Olympic sailing Busan was chosen for the 1988 Sailing event. A total of two race areas were created of the coast of Busan.
Busan in Korea was reportedly a light wind venue but no one realised until too late that this information came from the airport which was located in a sheltered valley. It turned out to be that the 1988 Olympic Games were one of the windiest ever with one day of racing postponed due to too much wind. One day of racing saw around 30 knots of wind with 5 knots of current going against the wind. There was a lot of equipment damage and rescues for many classes resulting in many sailors did not finish and requests for redress.

## Competition
### Overview

| Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
| 5 | 60 | 8 | 214 | 331 | 44 |

### Continents

* Africa
* Asia
* Oceania
* Europe
* Americas

### Countries

| Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1988 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 | Netherlands Antilles (AHO) Antigua and Barbuda (ANT) Argentina (ARG)  Australia (AUS) Austria (AUT) Bahamas (BAH)  Barbados (BAR) Bermuda (BER) Brazil (BRA)  Canada (CAN) Chile (CHI) China (CHN)  Cyprus (CYP) Denmark (DEN) Djibouti (DJI)  Spain (ESP) Fiji (FIJ) Finland (FIN)  France (FRA) West Germany (FRG) Great Britain (GBR)  East Germany (GDR) Greece (GRE) Guam (GUM)  Hong Kong (HKG) Hungary (HUN) Indonesia (INA)  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) Monaco (MON)  Netherlands (NED) Norway (NOR) New Zealand (NZL)  Pakistan (PAK) Philippines (PHI) Papua New Guinea (PNG)  Poland (POL) Portugal (POR) Puerto Rico (PUR)  Qatar (QAT) Singapore (SIN) San Marino (SMR)  Switzerland (SUI) Sweden (SWE) Thailand (THA)  Turkey (TUR) Soviet Union (URS) Uruguay (URU)  United States (USA) Venezuela (VEN) Zimbabwe (ZIM) |

### Classes (equipment)

| Class | Type | Sailors | Trapeze | Mainsail | Jib/Genoa | Spinnaker | First OG | Olympics so far |
| Division II | Surfboard | 1 | 0 | + | - | - | 1988 | 1 |
| Finn | Dinghy | 1 | 0 | + | - | - | 1952 | 10 |
| 470 | Dinghy | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1988 | 1 |
| 470 | Dinghy | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1976 | 4 |
| Flying Dutchman | Dinghy | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1960 | 7 |
| Tornado | Catamaran | 2 | 1 | + | + | - | 1976 | 4 |
| Star | Keelboat | 2 | 0 | + | + | - | 1932 | 12 |
| Soling | Keelboat | 3 | 0 | + | + | + | 1972 | 5 |

## Medal summary
### Women's event

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1988: Women's 470 details | United States (USA) Allison Jolly Lynne Jewell | Sweden (SWE) Marit Söderström Birgitta Bengtsson | Soviet Union (URS) Larisa Moskalenko Iryna Chunykhovska |

### Men's event

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1988: Men's Division II details | New Zealand (NZL) Bruce Kendall | Netherlands Antilles (AHO) Jan Boersma | United States (USA) Mike Gebhardt |
| 1988: Finn details | Spain (ESP) Jose Doreste | Virgin Islands (ISV) Peter Holmberg | New Zealand (NZL) John Cutler |
| 1988: Men's 470 details | France (FRA) Thierry Peponnet Luc Pillot | Soviet Union (URS) Tõnu Tõniste Toomas Tõniste | United States (USA) John Shadden Charles McKee |

### Open events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1988: Flying Dutchman details | Denmark (DEN) Jørgen Bojsen-Møller Christian Grønborg | Norway (NOR) Ole Pollen Erik Bjørkum | Canada (CAN) Frank McLaughlin John Millen |
| 1988: Tornado details | France (FRA) Jean Le Deroff Nicolas Hénard | New Zealand (NZL) Chris Timms Rex Sellers | Brazil (BRA) Lars Grael Clinio Freitas |
| 1988: Star details | Great Britain (GBR) Michael McIntyre Bryn Vaile | United States (USA) Mark Reynolds Harold Haenel | Brazil (BRA) Torben Grael Nelson Falcão |
| 1988: Soling details | East Germany (GDR) Jochen Schümann Thomas Flach Bernd Jäkel | United States (USA) John Kostecki William Baylis Robert Billingham | Denmark (DEN) Jesper Bank Jan Mathiasen Steen Secher |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | France (FRA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | New Zealand (NZL) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Denmark (DEN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | East Germany (GDR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Spain (ESP) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Soviet Union (URS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Netherlands Antilles (AHO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Virgin Islands (ISV) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 14 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (14 entries) | Totals (14 entries) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |

## Remarks
### Sailing

For the first time, a female-specific event, Women's 470, was on the program. Prior to this, all events were open to both men and women. Allison Jolly and Lynne Jewell of the USA won the event.

### Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1988 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:
* Denmark (DEN), Paul Elvstrøm
* In 470: Luis Doreste.