# Sailing at the 1972 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 the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1972 consisted of a total of six sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 29 August 1972 to 8 September 1972 of the coast of Kiel-Schilksee in the Bay of Kiel. Kiel hosted the Olympic sailing competitions for the second time, having previously done so during the 1936 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. 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, immediately after it became known that the city of Munich had the intention of hosting the Games of the XXth Olympiad, the cities of Kiel and Lübeck competed for the honor to carry out the Olympic yachting regattas.

### Kiel-Schilksee (Olympiazentrum)

When Kiel (and the Kieler Yacht-Club) won the competition the following was decided:
* a yachting center would be built in Kiel/Schilksee that, as was the case with the sport facilities in Munich, must be usable after the period of the Olympic Games as a future sports center;
* the city of Kiel will conduct a building competition for the Olympic Center in Kiel-Schilksee as soon as possible;
* the OC will form a committee for the Olympic yachting events to coordinate all contingencies arising in Kiel, and will in addition create a corresponding full-time organization of the OC in Kiel in order to handle the necessary work and activities in Kiel on schedule.
During the Games the number of spectators and visitors at the Olympic events in Kiel and at the Olympic Center in Kiel-Schilksee exceeded the expectations by a large margin. Conservative estimates put the total number at about a million spectators and visitors in Kiel.

### Course areas

A total of three race areas were set in the Firth of Kiel of the coast of Kiel/Schilksee. The location points to the center of the 2 nm radius circle for course area A & B and to a 1.5 nm radius circle for course area C.

## Competition
### Overview

| Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
| 4 | 42 | 6 | 152 | 323 | 0 |

### Continents

* Asia
* Oceania
* Europe
* Americas

### 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) Bahamas (BAH)  Belgium (BEL) Bermuda (BER) Brazil (BRA) Canada (CAN)  Denmark (DEN) Spain (ESP) Finland (FIN) France (FRA)  West Germany (FRG) Great Britain (GBR) East Germany (GDR) Greece (GRE)  Hong Kong (HKG) Hungary (HUN) India (IND) Ireland (IRL)  Israel (ISR) Virgin Islands (ISV) Italy (ITA) Jamaica (JAM)  Japan (JPN) Mexico (MEX) Netherlands (NED) Norway (NOR)  New Zealand (NZL) Philippines (PHI) Poland (POL) Portugal (POR)  Puerto Rico (PUR) Republic of China (ROC) Switzerland (SUI) Sweden (SWE)  Czechoslovakia (TCH) Thailand (THA) Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) Soviet Union (URS)  United States (USA) Yugoslavia (YUG) |

### Classes (equipment)

| Class | Type | Sailors | Trapeze | Mainsail | Jib/Genoa | Spinnaker | First OG | Olympics so far |
| Finn | Dinghy | 1 | 0 | + | – | – | 1952 | 6 |
| Flying Dutchman | Dinghy | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1960 | 4 |
| Tempest | Keelboat | 2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1972 | 1 |
| Star | Keelboat | 2 | 0 | + | + | – | 1932 | 9 |
| Soling | Keelboat | 3 | 0 | + | + | + | 1972 | 1 |
| Dragon | Keelboat | 3 | 0 | + | + | + | 1948 | 7 |

## Race schedule

| ● | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | ● | Event finals | ● | Closing ceremony |
| Date | August | August | August | August | August | August | September | September | September | September | September | September | September | September | September | September | September |
| Date | 26th Sat | 27th Sun | 28th Mon | 29th Tue | 30th Wed | 31st Thu | 1st Fri | 2nd Sat | 3rd Sun | 4th Mon | 5th Tue | 6th Wed | 7th Thu | 8th Fri | 9th Sat | 10th Sun | 11th Mon |
| Sailing (planning) | | | | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | Spare day | Spare day | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | Spare day | Spare day | | | |
| Total gold medals | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | | | | | |
| Sailing (actual) | | | | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● ● ● | Spare day | Spare day | ● ● ● ● ● ● | ● ● ● ● | | Fog | ● ● ● ● ● ● | | | |
| Total gold medals | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | | | |
| Ceremonies | ● | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ● | |

## Medal summary

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1972: Finn details | France (FRA) Serge Maury | Greece (GRE) Ilias Hatzipavlis | Soviet Union (URS) Viktor Potapov |
| 1972: Flying Dutchman details | Great Britain (GBR) Rodney Pattisson Christopher Davies | France (FRA) Yves Pajot Marc Pajot | West Germany (FRG) Ulli Libor Peter Naumann |
| 1972: Tempest details | Soviet Union (URS) Valentin Mankin Vitali Dyrdyra | Great Britain (GBR) Alan Warren David Hunt | United States (USA) Glen Foster Peter Dean |
| 1972: Star details | Australia (AUS) David Forbes John Anderson | Sweden (SWE) Pelle Petterson Stellan Westerdahl | West Germany (FRG) Wilhelm Kuhweide Karsten Meyer |
| 1972: Soling details | United States (USA) Harry Melges William Allen William Bentsen | Sweden (SWE) Stig Wennerström Bo Knape Stefan Krook | Canada (CAN) David Miller Paul Côté John Ekels |
| 1972: Dragon details | Australia (AUS) John Cuneo Thomas Anderson John Shaw | East Germany (GDR) Paul Borowski Karl-Heinz Thun Konrad Weichert | United States (USA) Donald Cohan Charles Horter John Marshall |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Australia (AUS) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | United States (USA) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | Soviet Union (URS) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Greece (GRE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (10 entries) | Totals (10 entries) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 18 |