Sailing at the Games of the IV Olympiad |
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1908 Gold Medal (Obverse and Reverse) |
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Venue | Ryde, Isle of Wight Hunters Quay, Firth of Clyde, Scotland |
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Dates | Ryde: 27–29 July Hunters Quay: 11–12 August |
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Competitors | 65 from 5 nations | |||||||||
Teams | 13 | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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«1900 | 1912» |
Sailing/Yachting is a Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens Greece). With the exception of 1904 and possible 1916 sailing was always a part of the Olympic program. The Sailing program of 1908 was open for a total of five sailing classes (disciplines). It turned out that no entries were made in the 15 Metre. The planned venue of all races, named matches was Ryde, Isle of Wight.
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Royal Victoria Yacht Club | |||
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Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club | |||
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At the 1907 The Hague Conference of the IOC Ryde at the Isle of Wight was appointed to host the sailing regattas, for all classes, of the Games of the IVth Olympiad. However when there were only British entries for the 12 Metre matches, and both yacht were located at the Firth of Clyde, the decision was made to use Hunter’s Quay as a second venue.
At Ryde the race committee used the available shipping buoys as marks for the courses. 16 nm for the 8 Metre and 13 nm for the 6 and 7 Metre.
Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
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1 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 64 | 2 |
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Although one of the oldest organized sporting activities, sailing in the early first part of the 20th century was not uniformly organized. This had a lot to do with national traditions as well as with the fact that there were no standardized boat types with uniform building instructions and measurements. Also a lot of development was done in the area of boat design and boat building. The shape of a boat, specifically its length, its weight and its sail area, are major parameters that determine the boat's speed. Several initiatives were started to create a formula that made it possible to have boats race each other without having to calculate the final result. But the different countries initially could not agree on an international system. At the Olympics of 1900 it was clear that sailing was not ready for international competition, and something had to be done.
In 1906 international meetings were organize to solve the problem. Finally in Paris, October 1907 the first International Rule was ratified. Delegates from this meeting went on to form the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU), the precursor to the present International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
The agreed formula gives a result in meters (Metre). During the meeting in 1907 the IOC made the decision to open the 1908 Summer Olympics for the following Metre classes:
Class | Type | Event | Sailors | Trapeze | Mainsail | Jib/Genoa | Spinnaker | First OG | Olympics so far |
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6 Metre | Keelboat | 3 | – | + | + | + | 1908 | 1 | |
7 Metre | Keelboat | 2 | – | + | + | + | 1908 | 1 | |
8 Metre | Keelboat | 2 | – | + | + | + | 1908 | 1 | |
12 Metre | Keelboat | 2 | – | + | + | + | 1908 | 1 | |
15 Metre | Keelboat | 3 | – | + | + | + | 1908 | 1 |
= Male, = Female, = Open
1908 Olympic Classes designs | |||||||||
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1908 Olympic Classes in action | |||||||||
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Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
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6 Metre: |
Great Britain (GBR) Thomas McMeekin Gilbert Laws Charles Crichton |
Belgium (BEL) LĂ©on Huybrechts Louis Huybrechts Henri Weewauters |
France (FRA) Henri Arthus Louis Potheau Pierre Rabot |
7 Metre: |
Great Britain (GBR) Charles Rivett-Carnac Frances Rivett-Carnac Norman Bingley Richard Dixon |
none awarded | none awarded |
8 Metre: |
Great Britain (GBR) Blair Cochrane Arthur Wood Henry Sutton John Rhodes Charles Campbell |
Sweden (SWE) Carl Hellström Edmund Thormählen Erik Wallerius Eric Sandberg Harald Wallin |
Great Britain (GBR) Philip Hunloke Alfred Hughes Frederick Hughes George Ratsey William Ward |
12 Metre: |
Great Britain (GBR) Thomas Glen-Coats John Downes John Buchanan James Bunten Arthur Downes David Dunlop John Mackenzie Albert Martin Gerald Tait John Aspin |
Great Britain (GBR) Charles MacIver James Kenion James Baxter William Davidson John Jellico Thomas Littledale Charles MacLeod-Robertson John Spence John Adam Cecil MacIver |
none awarded |
15 Metre: |
No Entries |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
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1 | Great Britain (GBR) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
2 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
4 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
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1 | United Kingdom | 7 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
2 | France | 2 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
3 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Mixed team (ZZX) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
5 | Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
8 | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 8 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 30 |
Sailing had to wait until 1920 before the first “one-design” class was selected for the Games.It has been suggested that in the yacht racing of future Olympic Games it might be better to select a fleet of “one-design” boats in the waters where the Games are held, and let all the crews entered draw lots for them every day, with the proviso that no crew should have the same boat twice.
During the Sailing regattas at the 1908 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:
8 Metre Sailors at the 1908 Olympic Games | |||||||||
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8 Metre Owners at the 1908 Olympic Games | |||||||||
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