Sailing at the 1968 Summer Olympics
| Sailing at the Games of the XIX Olympiad | |
|---|---|
| Venues | Club de Yates de Acapulco |
| Dates | First race: 14 October 1968 Last race: 21 October 1968 |
| Competitors | 251 from 41 nations |
| Boats | 123 |
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 1968 consisted of a total of five sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 14 October 1968 to 21 October 1968 off the coast of Acapulco in the Bay of Acapulco. The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses.[1]
Venue
Acapulco Bay is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Guerrero, 250 miles from Mexico City. The facilities at Club de Yates were improved and modified. 20,000 square metres of new docks provided with potable water, electricity and telephones were created. The buoys bearing colored flags delineated the three course areas.
Technical control was assured by a staff of measurers for gauging all yachts before racing.
The Olympic Village, located in the Caleta Hotel, provided accommodation for 503 competitors, trainers, team managers from 40 countries.
Competition
Overview
| Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 41 | 5 | 123 | 251 | 0 |
Continents
- Asia
- Oceania
- Europe
- Americas
Countries
 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 |
|
Classes (equipment)
| Class | Type | Event | Sailors | Trapeze | Mainsail | Jib/Genoa | Spinnaker | First OG | Olympics so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finn | Dinghy |  |
1 | 0 | + | – | – | 1952 | 5 |
| Flying Dutchman | Dinghy | |
2 | 1 | + | + | + | 1960 | 3 |
| Star | Keelboat | |
2 | 0 | + | + | – | 1932 | 8 |
| Dragon | Keelboat | |
3 | 0 | + | + | + | 1948 | 6 |
| 5.5 Metre | Keelboat | |
3 | 0 | + | + | + | 1952 | 5 |
= Male, 
= Female, = Open
1968 Olympic Classes designs
Medal summary
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
 1968: Finn |
 Soviet Union (URS)Valentin Mankin |
 Austria (AUT)Hubert Raudaschl |
 Italy (ITA)Fabio Albarelli |
 1968: Flying Dutchman |
 Great Britain (GBR)Rodney Pattisson Iain MacDonald-Smith |
 West Germany (FRG)Ulli Libor Peter Naumann |
 Brazil (BRA)Reinaldo Conrad Burkhard Cordes |
 1968: Star |
 United States (USA)Lowell North Peter Barrett |
 Norway (NOR)Peder Lunde Jr. Per Wiken |
Italy (ITA) Franco Cavallo Camillo Gargano |
 1968: Dragon |
United States (USA) George Friedrichs Barton Jahncke Gerald Schreck |
 Denmark (DEN)Aage Birch Paul Lindemark Jørgensen Niels Markussen |
East Germany (GDR) Paul Borowski Karl-Heinz Thun Konrad Weichert |
 1968: 5.5 Metre |
 Sweden (SWE)Ulf Sundelin Jörgen Sundelin Peter Sundelin |
 Switzerland (SUI)Louis Noverraz Bernhard Dunand Marcel Stern |
Great Britain (GBR) Robin Aisher Paul Anderson Adrian Jardine |
Medal table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States (USA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 |  Soviet Union (URS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Denmark (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (12 entries) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | |
Remarks
Sailing
- This Olympic sailing event was gender independent, but turned out to be a Men-only event. This was one of the triggers to create gender specific events. This however had to wait until 1988.
Paul Elvstrøm (DEN) was trying to win his fifth gold medal. This time in the Star. He came close. 4th.
Rodney Pattison (GBR) won his first Olympic medal (Gold) in his boat Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It is difficult to appoint Olympic records to sailing, but the score of this Flying Dutchman team would hold probably the record of best olympic score: DSQ, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2!- In each of the five classes there was a major difference in points between the gold and the silver medalists.
Sailors
During the Sailing regattas at the 1968 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:
- Royalties
Norway (NOR), King of Norway, HRH Crown Prince Harald in the 5.5 Metre
- Sport managers
Belgium (BEL), President International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge in the Finn
Finland (FIN), Future president International Sailing Federation, Peter Tallberg in the Star
Canada (CAN), Future president International Sailing Federation, Paul Henderson in the Finn
Greece (GRE). Future holder of the Silver Olympic Order, George Andreadis in the Flying Dutchman
Sailors at the 1968 Olympic Games
-
In Finn:
Jacques Rogge -
In 5.5 Metre:
Harald V of Norway
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Notes
- ^ "Sailing at the 1968 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
References
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume One Part One (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume One Part Two (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Two Part One (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Two Part Two (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Three Part One (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Three Part Two (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Four Part One (pdf).
- Organizing Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad (1968). The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Four Part Two (pdf).
- Hugh Drake & Paul Henderson (2009). Canada's Olympic Sailing Legacy, Paris 1924 – Beijing 2008. Toronto: CYA.
- "Mexico City 1968". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
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