# Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Laser

The Laser was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Eleven races (last one a medal race) were scheduled. Only ten races were completed including the medal race due to lack of wind. 43 sailors, on 43 boats, from 43 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race.

## Race schedule

| ● | Practice race | ● | Race on Yellow | ● | Race on Green | ● | Medal race on Yellow |
| 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 |
| Men's Laser | | | | | ● | 2 | 1 | No wind | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ● | | | | | |

## Course areas and course configurations

For the Laser course areas A (Yellow) and C (Green) were used. The location (36°1'26"’N, 120°26'52"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Yellow course area and the location (36°2'44"N, 120°28'9"E) points to the center of the 0.75nm radius Green course area. The target time for the course was about 60 minutes for the races and 30 minutes for the medal race. The race management could choose from several course configurations.
* Course Areas
* 70° Trapezoid Outer Course (O)
* 70° Trapezoid Inner Course (I)
* Windward - Leeward Course (W)

### Outer courses

* O1: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
* O2: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
* O3: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH

### Inner courses

* I1: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
* I2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
* I3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH

### Windward-Leeward courses

* W2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
* W3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
* W4: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH

## Weather conditions

In the lead up to the Olympics many questioned the choice of Qingdao as a venue with very little predicted wind. During the races the wind was pretty light and quite unpredictable. Due to lack of wind (< 1.6 knots) one racing day had to be cancelled and the medal race needed to be postponed to the next day.

## Final results

Results of individual races :
| Pos | Helmsman | Country | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | MR | Tot | Pts |
| | Paul Goodison | Great Britain | 15$^†$ | 2 | 15 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 78.0 | 63.0 |
| | Vasilij Žbogar | Slovenia | 24$^†$ | 4 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 95.0 | 71.0 |
| | Diego Romero | Italy | 6 | 3 | 5 | 36$^†$ | 10 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 111.0 | 75.0 |
| 4 | Gustavo Lima | Portugal | 5 | 8 | 3 | 27$^†$ | 17 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 103.0 | 76.0 |
| 5 | Andrew Murdoch | New Zealand | 2 | 5 | 40$^†$ | 20 | 24 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 121.0 | 81.0 |
| 6 | Rasmus Myrgren | Sweden | 7 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 22$^†$ | 7 | 2 | 10 | 105.0 | 83.0 |
| 7 | Julio Alsogaray | Argentina | 1 | 12 | 10 | 28$^†$ | 14 | 1 | 2 | 31 | 16 | 4 | 123.0 | 92.0 |
| 8 | Jean-Baptiste Bernaz | France | 19 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 30 | 5 | 34$^†$ | 6 | 138.0 | 104.0 |
| 9 | Mike Leigh | Canada | 13 | 23 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 28$^†$ | 2 | 19 | 7 | 137.0 | 109.0 |
| 10 | Kristian Ruth | Norway | 10 | 11 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 38$^†$ | 8 | 147.0 | 109.0 |
| 11 | Igor Lisovenko | Russia | 11 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 26 | 37$^†$ | 19 | 7 | | 133.0 | 96.0 |
| 12 | Luka Radelić | Croatia | 26$^†$ | 15 | 7 | 21 | 1 | 21 | 3 | 16 | 17 | | 127.0 | 101.0 |
| 13 | Pavlos Kontides | Cyprus | 8 | 7 | 24 | 14 | 5 | 12 | 14 | 29 | 35$^†$ | | 148.0 | 113.0 |
| 14 | Javier Hernández | Spain | 17 | 25 | 11 | 3 | 28 | BFD 44$^†$ | 19 | 13 | 5 | | 165.0 | 121.0 |
| 15 | Evangelos Cheimonas | Greece | 22 | 21 | 9 | 11 | DSQ 44$^†$ | BFD 44 | 9 | 6 | 8 | | 174.0 | 130.0 |
| 16 | Maciej Grabowski | Poland | 9 | 19 | 22 | 18 | 16 | 23 | 32$^†$ | 20 | 4 | | 163.0 | 131.0 |
| 17 | Alejandro Foglia | Uruguay | 12 | 27 | 33 | 7 | 36$^†$ | 4 | 6 | 26 | 18 | | 169.0 | 133.0 |
| 18 | Kemal Muslubaş | Turkey | 4 | 42$^†$ | 27 | 19 | 15 | 27 | 7 | 15 | 32 | | 188.0 | 146.0 |
| 19 | Andreas Geritzer | Austria | 28 | 6 | 2 | 30 | 20 | BFD 44$^†$ | DNC 44 | 18 | 9 | | 201.0 | 157.0 |
| 20 | Shen Sheng | China | 40$^†$ | 35 | 6 | 4 | 37 | 14 | 10 | 28 | 25 | | 199.0 | 159.0 |
| 21 | Thomas Barrows | Virgin Islands | 20 | 28 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 31$^†$ | 15 | 10 | 21 | | 195.0 | 164.0 |
| 22 | Tom Slingsby | Australia | 21 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 35 | 20 | 12 | 11 | 40$^†$ | | 204.0 | 164.0 |
| 23 | Anders Nyholm | Denmark | 18 | 26 | 19 | 15 | 19 | BFD 44$^†$ | 27 | 27 | 13 | | 208.0 | 164.0 |
| 24 | Deniss Karpak | Estonia | 16 | 20 | 41$^†$ | 37 | 38 | 2 | 4 | 35 | 14 | | 207.0 | 166.0 |
| 25 | Andrew Campbell | United States | 14 | 18 | 1 | 26 | 32 | BFD 44$^†$ | 8 | DSQ 44 | 31 | | 218.0 | 174.0 |
| 26 | Matías del Solar | Chile | 3 | 34$^†$ | 30 | 25 | 21 | 9 | 25 | 23 | DNE 44 | | 214.0 | 180.0 |
| 27 | Bruno Fontes | Brazil | 31 | 17 | 31 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 35 | 22 | 39$^†$ | | 223.0 | 184.0 |
| 28 | Ha Jee-min | South Korea | 23 | 33 | 37$^†$ | 31 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 22 | | 227.0 | 190.0 |
| 29 | Zsombor Berecz | Hungary | 27 | 31 | 36 | 23 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 14 | 37$^†$ | | 232.0 | 195.0 |
| 30 | Pierre Collura | Finland | 25 | 10 | 18 | 41$^†$ | 23 | 25 | 20 | 33 | DNE 44 | | 239.0 | 198.0 |
| 31 | Martin Trčka | Czech Republic | 29 | 36 | 38 | 13 | 29 | 19 | 26 | DNF 44$^†$ | 12 | | 246.0 | 202.0 |
| 32 | Allan Julie | Seychelles | 33 | 37$^†$ | 13 | 33 | 27 | 16 | 21 | 30 | 30 | | 240.0 | 203.0 |
| 33 | Juan Ignacio Maegli | Guatemala | DSQ 44$^†$ | 9 | 39 | 16 | BFD 44 | 32 | 39 | 12 | 5 | | 250.0 | 206.0 |
| 34 | Rutger van Schaardenburg | Netherlands | 32 | 29 | 34 | 32 | 25 | 18 | 38$^†$ | 25 | 20 | | 253.0 | 215.0 |
| 35 | Yoichi Iijima | Japan | 36 | 32 | 16 | 17 | 31 | BFD 44$^†$ | 31 | DNF 44 | 28 | | 279.0 | 235.0 |
| 36 | Koh Seng Leong | Singapore | 35 | 41 | 29 | 39 | BFD 44$^†$ | 33 | 23 | 3 | 36 | | 283.0 | 239.0 |
| 37 | Christoph Bottoni | Switzerland | 34 | 13 | 32 | 40 | 39 | BFD 44$^†$ | 36 | 24 | 23 | | 285.0 | 241.0 |
| 38 | Kevin Lim | Malaysia | BFD 44$^†$ | 24 | 28 | 42 | 22 | 34 | 34 | 39 | 26 | | 293.0 | 249.0 |
| 39 | José Ruíz | Venezuela | 39 | 40$^†$ | 23 | 29 | 40 | 29 | 33 | 32 | 24 | | 289.0 | 249.0 |
| 40 | Raúl Aguayo | Dominican Republic | 37 | 30 | 35 | 38$^†$ | 34 | 28 | 29 | 36 | 29 | | 296.0 | 258.0 |
| 41 | Marc Schmit | Luxembourg | 30 | 39 | 25 | 35 | 30 | 35 | 41$^†$ | 40 | 33 | | 308.0 | 267.0 |
| 42 | Adil Mohammad | United Arab Emirates | 38 | 38 | 42 | 43$^†$ | 11 | 36 | 42 | 38 | 27 | | 315.0 | 272.0 |
| 43 | Greg Douglas | Barbados | 41 | 43$^†$ | 43 | 34 | 33 | 30 | 40 | 37 | 41 | | 342.0 | 299.0 |
Scoring system: low-point system;
Legend: – Qualified for medal race(s); BFD – Black flag disqualification; DNE – Non excludable disqualification; DNF – Did not finish; DPI – Discretionary penalty imposed; OCS – On the course side of the starting line; † – Discarded race not counted in the overall result;