Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from August 9 to 21. The competition took place in Qingdao, at Qingdao International Marina.

The events consisted of four classes for men, four for women, and three mixed classes that were open to both men and women. Since the 2004 Games, three events were changed to new equipment. The Neil Pryde RS:X was selected to replace the Mistral for both Men's and Women's sailboard, and the Laser Radial replaced the Europe as the Women's single-handed dinghy.

Competition format

Races in all events were sailed in a fleet racing format of ten regular series races (fifteen for the 49er), followed by a Medal Race. The contestants raced around the course in a group, and each boat earned a score equal to its finishing position. The nine (thirteen for the 49er) best scores for each boat were summed up for the regular series of races.

The Medal Races were 30 minutes long, limited to the ten boats with the lowest series scores in each event, and were scored double points based on finish position. The medals in each event were decided based on the overall total points (series plus medal), with ties being decided based on the Medal Race finish order.

These scoring rules were new for the 2008 Olympics, and were criticized as an ill-advised attempt to make sailing more attractive as a live event for television viewing.^[1]

Medal summary

Medal table

Men's events

Women's events

Open events

Qualification

References

1. ^ Reynolds, Mark (November 16, 2005). "Scuttlebutt: Olympic Scoring Perspective". Scuttlebutt. US Sailing. http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/05/mr_olyscoring/. 

• http://www.sailing.org/olympics2008

External links

• Sailing Committee (Qingdao) of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
• ISAF's miniweb
• Olympic Sailing News
• International Olympic Committee – Sailing
• Yachting World
• US Sailing