Sailing at the Summer Olympics

Governing body

Events

0 (mixed)

Games

1896	•	1900	•	1904	•	1908	•	1912	•	1920
1924	•	1928	•	1932	•	1936	•	1948	•	1952
1956	•	1960	•	1964	•	1968	•	1972	•	1976
1980	•	1984	•	1988	•	1992	•	1996	•	2000
2004	•	2008	•	2012

Medalists

Sailing (also known as yachting up until 1996) has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions. Apart from the 1904 Summer Olympics, sailing has been present in every other edition of the Olympic Games.

For scoring system used for sailing during the Olympics look at: Scoring systems for Sailing at the Summer Olympics
A directory page to all Olympic sailors is given at: List of sailors at the Summer Olympics
Information about the Sailing at specific Summer Olympics or the used equipment can be found using the table below:

1 Introduction
2 Olympic classes (equipment)
3 Olympic sailing venues
4 Olympic sailing ranking list
5 Statistics
6 Sailing medal leaders (by Summer Olympiad)
7 Multiple medalists
8 Notes

Introduction

Over the years Sailing can be categorized into several periods ^[1]:

Periode	Type	Examples
1896 - 1912:	The Gentlemen	Hermann de Pourtalès (SUI)	Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild (FRA)
1920 - 1936:	The Yachtsmen	Virginie Hériot (FRA)	Johan Anker (NOR)
1948 - 1964:	The Innovators	Paul Elvstrøm (DEN)	Keith Musto (GBR)
1968 - 1984:	The Sailors	Rodney Pattisson (GBR)	Valentin Mankin (URS)
1992 - 2000:	The Athletes	Jochen Schümann (GDR)	Theresa Zabell (ESP)
2004 - 20??:	The Performers	Yīn Jiàn (殷剑) (CHN)	Ben Ainslie (GBR)

Over time, different classes (equipment) featured at the Olympics. First, the classes were specified in tons, later in meters, feet or generic names. For the discontinued classes, the Vintage Yachting Games were introduced in 2008.

Until 1988, sailing was a gender-independent sport. Even in 1900, several women participated at the Olympic sailing regattas. In 1988, the first exclusive women's sailing event was introduced.

Most of the Olympic sailing competitions were done in what is called a fleet race format. At some Olympics, however, was also the matchrace format, or a mixed fleet/match race format. Great Britain leads the Olympic sailing medal ranking table.

Olympic classes (equipment)

Over the years the classes used in the Olympic Sailing Program were replaced from time to time. This table shows this development:

Olympic discipline		96^[2]	00^[3]	04^[4]	08	12	16^[5]	20	24	28	32	36	40^[6]	44^[7]	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	Sailed Events
Boats of the Royal Navy		•																														0
½ ton			•																													1
½-1 ton			•																													1
1-2 ton			•																													1
2-3 ton			•																													1
3-10 ton			•																													1
10-20 ton			•																													1
Open class			•																													1
6 Metre	1907				•	•		•																								11
	1919							•	•	•	•
	1933											•	•		•	•
7 Metre	1907				•			•																								2
8 Metre	1907				•	•		•																								8
	1919							•	•	•	•
	1933											•
12 Metre	1907				•	•		•																								4
12 Metre	1919							•																								4
15 Metre	1907				•																											0
10 Metre	1907					•		•																								3
10 Metre	1919							•																								3
9 Metre	1907							•																								0
12 foot dinghy								•		•			•																			2
18 foot dinghy								•																								1
6,5 Metre								•																								1
8.5 Metre								•																								0
30m² class								•																								1
40m² class								•																								1
French National Monotype 1924									•																							1
Snowbird											•																					1
Star											•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•	•				19
Star																													•	•	•	19
O-Jolle												•																				1
Dragon															•	•	•	•	•	•	•											7
Swallow															•																	1
Firefly															•																	1
Finn																•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•						•		16
Finn																									•	•	•	•	•		•	16
5,5 Metre																•	•	•	•	•												5
Sharpie 12m²																	•															1
Flying Dutchman																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•						9
Soling																					•	•	•	•	•							8
Soling	c																									•	•	•				8
Tempest																					•	•										2
Tornado																						•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		9
470																						•	•	•								17
																									•	•	•	•	•	•	•
																									•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Windglider																								•								1
Division II																									•							1
Lechner																										•						2
Lechner																										•						2
Europe																										•	•	•	•			4
Mistral																											•	•	•			6
Mistral																											•	•	•			6
Laser																											•	•	•			5
Laser																														•	•	5
49^er																												•	•	•	•	4
Yngling																													•	•		2
RS:X																														•	•	4
RS:X																														•	•	4
Laser Radial																														•	•	2
Elliott 6m	m																														•	1
47	total	1	7	0	5	4		16	3	3	4	4	3		5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	7	8	10	10	11	11	11	10	171
Olympiads		I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX	X	XI	XII	XIII	XIV	XV	XVI	XVII	XVIII	XIX	XX	XXI	XXII	XXIII	XXIV	XXV	XXVI	XXVII	XXVIII	XXIX	XXX	Total

= Male
= Female
m = Female matchrace
= Open class
c = Open class fleet/matchrace
1907 = Open 1907 rule
1919 = Open 1919 rule
1933 = Open 1933 rule

Olympic sailing venues

Main article: List of Olympic venues in sailing

Pictures will be replaced by more relevant photos.

Games	Year	Host	City	Sailing venue	Opening	Closing	Classes
I	1896	(GRE)	Athens	Piraeus	1-APR	1-APR	Cancelled
II	1900	(FRA)	Paris	Meulan	20-MAY	27-MAY	All, except ...
II	1900	(FRA)	Paris	Le Havre	1-AUG	5-AUG	10-20 ton
III	1904	(USA)	St. Louis	Not programmed
IV	1908	(GBR)	London	Ryde	27-JUL	29-JUL	6 Metre 7 Metre 8 Metre
IV	1908	(GBR)	London	Hunter's Quay	11-AUG	12-AUG	12 Metre
V	1912	(SWE)	Stockholm	Nynäshamn	19-JUL	22-JUL	All
VI	1916	(GER)	Berlin	Probably not programmed
VII	1920	(BEL)	Antwerp	Ostend	7-JUL	10-JUL	All, except...
VII	1920	(BEL)	Antwerp	The Netherlands	SEP	SEP	Finals 12 foot dinghy
VIII	1924	(FRA)	Paris	Meulan	10-JUL	13-JUL	French National Monotype 1924
VIII	1924	(FRA)	Paris	Le Havre	21-JUL	26-JUL	6 Metre 8 Metre
IX	1928	(NED)	Amsterdam	Durgerdam	2-AUG	9-AUG	All
X	1932	(USA)	Los Angeles	Port of Los Angeles	5-AUG^[8]	12-AUG	All
XI	1936	(GER)	Berlin	Kiel	4-AUG	16-AUG	All
XII	1940	(JPN)	Tokio	Yokohama harbour	21-SEP	6-OCT	All Cancelled
XII	1940	(FIN)	Helsinki	Program not made			Cancelled
XIII	1944	Olympics suspended
XIV	1948	(GBR)	London	Torquay	4-AUG	12-AUG	All
XV	1952	(FIN)	Helsinki	Harmaja	20-JUL	28-JUL	All
XVI	1956	(AUS)	Melbourne	Port Phillip Bay	26-NOV	5-DEC	All
XVII	1960	(ITA)	Rome	Naples	29-AUG	7-SEP	All
XVIII	1964	(JPN)	Tokio	Enoshima	12-OCT	23-OCT	All
XIX	1968	(MEX)	Mexico City	Acapulco	13-OCT	25-OCT	All
XX	1972	(FRG)	Munich	Kiel	29-AUG	8-SEP	All
XXI	1976	(CAN)	Montreal	Kingston, Ontario	18-JUL	31-JUL	All
XXII	1980	(URS)	Moscow	Tallinn	21-JUL	29-JUL	All
XXIII	1984	(USA)	Los Angeles	Long Beach, California	31-JUL	8-AUG	All
XXIV	1988	(KOR)	Seoul	Busan	20-SEP	27-SEP	All
XXV	1992	(ESP)	Barcelona	Barcelona	27-JUL	4-AUG	All
XXVI	1996	(USA)	Atlanta	Savannah, Georgia	22-JUL	2-AUG	All
XXVII	2000	(AUS)	Sydney	Sydney	17-SEP	30-SEP	All
XXVIII	2004	(GRE)	Athens	Athens	14-AUG	28-AUG	All
XXVIX	2008	(CHN)	Beijing	Qingdao	9-AUG	21-AUG	All
XXX	2012	(GBR)	London	Weymouth and Portland	28-JUL	11-AUG	All

Olympic sailing ranking list

This list includes Olympic medals in years up to and including 2004.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain (GBR)	24	14	11	49
2	United States (USA)	19	23	17	59
3	Norway (NOR)	17	11	3	31
4	France (FRA)	12	11	14	37
5	Denmark (DEN)	12	8	6	26
6	Spain (ESP)	11	5	1	17
7	Sweden (SWE)	9	12	12	33
8	Australia (AUS)	7	4	8	19
9	New Zealand (NZL)	7	4	5	16
10	Brazil (BRA)	6	3	7	16
11	Netherlands (NED)	4	7	6	17
12	Soviet Union (URS)	4	5	3	12
13	Germany (GER)	3	4	3	10
14	Austria (AUT)	3	4	0	7
15	Italy (ITA)	3	3	8	14
16	Greece (GRE)	3	2	2	7
17	Belgium (BEL)	2	4	2	8
18	West Germany (FRG)	2	2	3	7
19	East Germany (GDR)	2	2	2	6
20	Finland (FIN)	2	1	6	9
21	Mixed team (ZZX)	2	0	0	2
22	Ukraine (UKR)	1	2	2	5
23	China (CHN)	1	2	1	4
23	Switzerland (SUI)	1	1	1	3
25	Germany (EUA)	1	1	1	3
26	Israel (ISR)	1	0	2	3
27	Bahamas (BAH)	1	0	1	2
27	Poland (POL)	1	0	1	2
29	Hong Kong (HKG)	1	0	0	1
30	Argentina (ARG)	0	4	4	8
31	Canada (CAN)	0	3	6	9
32	Portugal (POR)	0	2	2	4
33	Japan (JPN)	0	1	1	2
	Russia (RUS)	0	1	1	2
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	1	2
36	Cuba (CUB)	0	1	0	1
	Czech Republic (CZE)	0	1	0	1
	Ireland (IRL)	0	1	0	1
	Lithuania (LTU)	0	1	0	1
	Netherlands Antilles (AHO)	0	1	0	1
	Virgin Islands (ISV)	0	1	0	1
42	Estonia (EST)	0	0	2	2
43	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1

Statistics

This table is based upon the names of the sailors who are documented in the Official Olympic Reports. Table is currently being built and is up to complete until 1956.

Country	96	00	04	08	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	Total

Argentina								5	6		11			18	14	6															60
Australia														3	6	11															20
Austria									2	1	1			5	3	1															13
Bahamas															7	3															10
Belgium				3			14	8	7		3			12	4	1															52
Bermuda																3															3
Burma																3															3
Brazil											1			7	6	3															17
Canada								1		13	1			5	11	8															39
Chile											1																				1
Cuba								3						2	3	2															10
Denmark					3			6	6		7			13	7	4															46
Spain								3	7	1				3	1																15
Estonia									6		1																				7
Fiji																1															1
Finland					28			1	1		12			12	14	3															71
France		66		3	3		3	9	13	3	14			16	9	8															147
West Germany																															0
Great Britain		8		41			6	5	7	2	14			13	14	12															122
East Germany																															0
Germany		5							6	1	14				14	9															49
Greece														4	3	2															9
Hong Kong																															0
Hungary									6		1																				7
India																															0
Ireland														5	1	1															7
Israel																															0
Virgin Islands																															0
Italy								3	12	1	14			15	14	12															71
Jamaica																															0
Japan											3				1																4
Latvia									1																						1
Lithuania																									2		1	1	1		4
Mexico																															0
Monaco								1	1						2																4
Netherlands		3					8	2	16	2	8			12	9																60
Norway				5	18		59	9	10		14			13	12	6															146
New Zealand																5															5
Philippines																															0
Poland								1	2		6																				9
Portugal								1	4		3			9	9	5															31
Puerto Rico																															0
Republic of China																															0
South Africa								1	1	2				1	4	6															15
Russia					17																										17
Singapore																5															5
Switzerland		3						1	2		6			13	11																36
Sweden				13	41		12	11	5	7	14			15	14	7															139
Czechoslovakia								1	2		1																				4
Thailand																2															2
Trinidad and Tobago																															0
Turkey											3																				3
Soviet Union															14	11															25
Uruguay											1			4	1																6
United States									11	21	14			16	16	13															91
Yugoslavia											1				3																4
Mixed team		3																													3

Sailors		88		65	110		102	72	134	54	169			216	227	153	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1390
		1		2	0		1	1	3	0	2			0	3	0															13
		87		63	110		101	71	131	54	167			216	224	153	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1377
First Olympic		88		65	101		98	64	119	50	150			190	169																1094
Continents		2		1	1		1	4	4	3	4			5	6	6															6
Countries		6		5	6		6	19	23	11	26			23	29	29															53
New countries	6	3	3	0	10	5	0	6	3	2	6															44
Classes	7	4	4	14	3	3	4	4	5	5	5															58
First use	7	5	1	7	1	0	2	1	3	2	1															30
Boats	70	13	24	24	31	41	23	59	75	93	71															524
Average class size	10	3.3	6	1.7	10.3	13.7	5.8	14.8	15	18.6	14.2															9
Average team size	1.3	5	4.6	4.3	2.3	3.3	2.3	2.9	2.9	2.4	2.2															2.7
Olympiads	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX	X	XI	XII	XIII	XIV	XV	XVI	XVII	XVIII	XIX	XX	XXI	XXII	XXIII	XXIV	XXV	XXVI	XXVII	XXVIII	XXIX	XXX	Total

Sailing medal leaders (by Summer Olympiad)

Table up to date to 1912

Games of	Leader	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
France, 1900 Paris	Great Britain (GBR)	3	0	1	4
United Kingdom, 1908 London	Great Britain (GBR)	4	1	1	6
Sweden, 1912 Stockholm	Norway (NOR)	2	0	0	2
Belgium, 1920 Antwerp	Norway (NOR)	7	3	1	11
France, 1924 Paris	Norway (NOR)	2	1	0	3
Netherlands, 1928 Amsterdam	Norway (NOR)	1	1	0	2
United States, 1932 Los Angeles	United States (USA)	2	1	0	3
Germany, 1936 Berlin	Germany (GER)	1	1	1	1
United Kingdom, 1948 London	United States (USA)	2	1	1	4
Finland, 1952 Helsinki	United States (USA)	2	1	0	3
Australia, 1956 Melbourne	Sweden (SWE)	2	0	0	2
Italy, 1960 Rome	Denmark (DEN)	1	2	0	3
Japan, 1964 Tokyo
Mexico, 1968 Mexico City
West Germany, 1972 Munich City	Australia (AUS)	2	0	0	2
Canada, 1976 Montreal
Soviet Union, 1980 Moscow
United States, 1984 Los Angeles
South Korea, 1988 Seoul
Spain, 1992 Barcelona
United States, 1996 Atlanta	Brazil (BRA)	2	0	1	3
Australia, 2000 Sydney	Great Britain (GBR)	3	2	0	5
Greece, 2004 Athens	Great Britain (GBR)	2	1	2	5
China, 2008 Beijing	Great Britain (GBR)	4	1	1	6
United Kingdom, 2012 London

Multiple medalists

Brazilian Torben Grael is the only Olympic sailor with five Olympic medals. The most successful sailor is Paul Elvström with four gold medals.

Four or more medals
Position	Sailor	Country	Period	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Classes
1	Paul Elvström	Denmark (DEN)	1948–1960	4	0	0	4	Firefly/Finn
2	Jochen Schümann	Germany (GER)	1976–2000	3	1	0	4	Finn/Soling
	Valentin Mankin	Soviet Union (URS)	1968–1980	3	1	0	4	Finn/Tempest/Star
	Ben Ainslie	Great Britain (GBR)	1996–2008	3	1	0	4	Laser/Finn
5	Robert Scheidt	Brazil (BRA)	1996–2008	2	2	0	4	Laser/Star
6	Torben Grael	Brazil (BRA)	1984–2004	2	1	2	5	Soling/Star
7	Magnus Konow	Norway (NOR)	1912–1936	2	1	0	3	12 Metre/8 Metre/6 Metre
	Rodney Pattisson	Great Britain (GBR)	1968–1976	2	1	0	3	Flying Dutchman
	Mark Reynolds	United States (USA)	1988–2000	2	1	0	3	Star
10	Tore Holm	Sweden (SWE)	1920–1948	2	0	2	4	40m² class/8 Metre/6 Metre
	Alessandra Sensini	Italy (ITA)	1996–2008	1	1	2	4	Mistral/RS:X
	Carlos Espínola	Argentina (ARG)	1996–2008	0	2	2	4	Mistral/Tornado

Notes

^ ISBN-13: 978-90-78440-23-9 Olympic Classes
^ Still unclear in what classes the races were scheduled.
^ In 1900 two races were held in the ½-ton, 1–2 Ton en 2–3 Ton classes. After each race, trophies were handed out. The IOC, however, does not recognise these extra trophies with an Olympic Medal.
^ Sailing is an Olympic sport but does not make part of the 1904 Olympic program.
^ No classes known yet.
^ Program Tokio announced.
^ No program created.
^ This is the first time all Olympic events took place in one periode.

Sports at the Olympic Games

Summer sports	Archery Athletics Badminton Basketball Beach volleyball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Field hockey Football Gymnastics Handball Judo Modern pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Swimming Synchronized swimming Table tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling

Winter sports	Alpine skiing Biathlon Bobsleigh Cross-country skiing Curling Figure skating Freestyle skiing Ice hockey Luge Nordic combined Short track speed skating Skeleton Ski jumping Snowboarding Speed skating

Past sports	Baseball Basque pelota Cricket Croquet Jeu de paume Lacrosse Polo Rackets Roque Softball Tug of war Water motorsports

Future sports	Golf Rugby union

Sailing at the Summer Olympics

	1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 • 2012

List of medalists • List of venues

Olympic class sailboats

Current Olympic	RS:X Laser Laser Radial Finn 470 49er Elliott 6m Star

Vintage Yachting Classes	Europe O-Jolle Flying Dutchman Yngling Tempest Soling Dragon 5.5 Metre

Former Olympic	Windglider Division II Lechner Olympic Board Mistral One Design Class 12’ Dinghy Firefly Snowbird French National Monotype 1924 18’ Dinghy 12m² Sharpie Tornado Swallow 6 Metre 6.5 Metre 7 Metre 8 Metre 8.5 Metre 9 Metre 10 Metre 12 Metre 30m² & 40m² Skerry Cruisers Ton Classes (½, ½–1, 1–2, 2–3, 3–10, 10–20, & Open)