Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Sailing at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venues	Qingdao International Sailing Centre
Dates	First race: 9 August 2008 (2008-08-09) Last race: 21 August 2008 (2008-08-21)
Competitors	400 (261 male, 139 female) from 62 nations
Boats	272

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 possibly the cancelled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 2008 consisted of a total of nine sailing classes (eleven disciplines). Eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled from 9 August 2008 to 21 August 2008 of the coast of the Qingdao International Sailing Centre facing the Yellow Sea. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening races and one as a medal race. The sailing was done on four different types of courses.

Venue

Qingdao International Sailing Centre
青岛奥林匹克帆船中心
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Olympic harbor Including: Qingdao Sub-Village, Athletes Center, Administrative Center, Venue Media Center, Logistics Center, Reception Center and Accreditation Center.
Location	ShiNan District, Fushan Bay Area
Address	XinHui Road
Town or city	Qingdao, Shandong Province. China
Country	China
Coordinates	36°03′23″N 120°23′13″E
Elevation	Sealevel
Construction started	25 May 2004
Opened	2008
Technical details
Floor area	45 hectares, comprising a 30 hectare competition area and a 15 hectare area for development after the Games

According to the IOC statutes the contests in all sport disciplines must be held either in, or as close as possible to the city which the IOC has chosen. Among others, an exception is made for the Olympic yachting events, which customarily must be staged on the open sea. On account of this principle, Qingdao was selected for the honor to carry out the Olympic yachting regattas. For that purpose the Qingdao International Sailing Centre was constructed.

Qingdao International Sailing Centre (QISC)

The land based part of the QISC covers approximately 45 hectares and includes:

• Administrative and game management center
• Olympic and athletes village
• Media center
• Logistics supply center
• National sailing center, International yacht club with seaside marina
• International passenger liner terminal
• International conference center with five-star hotel
• Shopping and amusement center, parks and public squares.

The offshore part of the complex included:

• The main seawall
• The secondary seawall
• The jetty wharf
• The Olympic wharf

Course areas

A total of five race areas were set on the Yellow Sea of the coast of Qingdao. The location points to the center of the 0.6 nm radius circle for course area A & B and to a 0.75 nm radius circle for course area's C D and E.

Olympic Course Area's 2008.
A ( Yellow): 36°2'23"N, 120°23'12"E (49er)
B ( Red): 36°2'21"N, 120°25'32"E(RS:X)
C ( Green): 36°1'26"’N, 120°26'52"E (Laser & Laser Radial)
D ( Orange): 36°1'10"N, 120°28'47"E (470)
E ( Pink): 36°2'44"N, 120°28'9"E (Finn, Yngling, Tornado & Star)

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
6	62	11	272	261	139

Continents

• Africa
• Asia
• Oceania
• Europe
• North America
• South America

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1972 Olympic Games.
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

Argentina (ARG)  Australia (AUS)  Austria (AUT)  Barbados (BAR)  Belgium (BEL)  Belarus (BLR)  Brazil (BRA)  Bulgaria (BUL)  Canada (CAN)  Chile (CHI)  China (CHN)  Colombia (COL)  Croatia (CRO)  Cyprus (CYP)  Czech Republic (CZE)  Denmark (DEN)  Dominican Republic (DOM)  Spain (ESP)  Estonia (EST)  Finland (FIN)  France (FRA)  Great Britain (GBR)  Germany (GER)  Greece (GRE)  Guatemala (GUA)  Hong Kong (HKG)  Hungary (HUN)  Indonesia (INA)  India (IND)  Ireland (IRL)  Israel (ISR)  Virgin Islands (ISV)  Italy (ITA)  Japan (JPN)  South Korea (KOR)  Lithuania (LTU)  Luxembourg (LUX)  Malaysia (MAS)  Mexico (MEX)  Netherlands (NED)  Norway (NOR)  New Zealand (NZL)  Paraguay (PAR)  Peru (PER)  Poland (POL)  Portugal (POR)  South Africa (RSA)  Russia (RUS)  Seychelles (SEY)  Singapore (SIN)  Slovenia (SLO)  Switzerland (SUI)  Slovakia (SVK)  Sweden (SWE)  Thailand (THA)  Chinese Taipei (TPE)  Turkey (TUR)  United Arab Emirates (UAE)  Ukraine (UKR)  Uruguay (URU)  United States (USA)  Venezuela (VEN)

Classes (equipment)

Class	Type	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
RS:X	Sailboard		1	-	+	-	-	2008	1
RS:X	Sailboard		1	-	+	-	-	2008	1
Laser Radial	Dinghy		1	-	+	-	-	2008	1
Laser	Dinghy		1	-	+	-	-	1996	4
Finn	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1952	15
470	Dinghy		2	1	+	+	+	1988	6
470	Dinghy		2	1	+	+	+	1976	9
49er	Dinghy		2	2	+	+	+	2000	3
Tornado	Multihull		2	2	+	+	+	1976	9
Yngling	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	2004	2
Star	Keelboat		2	0	+	+	–	1932	17

2008 Olympic Classes designs

• 

Race schedule

●

Opening ceremony

●

Practice race

●

Race

●

Medal race

●

Closing ceremony

Date	August
	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
Women's Practice race     Men's Mixed	●   ●		●	● ● ● ●	● ●			● ●
Women's Series     Men's Mixed			2   2	2   2 3	2 2 2 2 2 2 3	2 2 2 2 2 2	2 2 2 2 2 2 3	2 2 2 2 2 2 3	2 2 2 3 2	2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2	2 2 2 2	2 2	2 2	2 2
Women's Medal races     Men's Mixed										●   ●	●	● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●
Total gold medals										2	1	2	2	2	2
Ceremonies		●																●

Medal summary

Women's events

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2008: Women's RS:X	China (CHN) Yin Jian	Italy (ITA) Alessandra Sensini	Great Britain (GBR) Bryony Shaw
2008: Laser Radial	United States (USA) Anna Tunnicliffe	Lithuania (LTU) Gintarė Volungevičiūtė	China (CHN) Xu Lijia
2008: Women's 470	Australia (AUS) Elise Rechichi Tessa Parkinson	Netherlands (NED) Marcelien de Koning Lobke Berkhout	Brazil (BRA) Fernanda Oliveira Isabel Swan
2008: Yngling	Great Britain (GBR) Sarah Ayton Sarah Webb Pippa Wilson	Netherlands (NED) Mandy Mulder Annemieke Bes Merel Witteveen	Greece (GRE) Sofia Bekatorou Virginia Kravarioti Sofia Papadopoulou

Men's events

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2008: Men's RS:X	New Zealand (NZL) Tom Ashley	France (FRA) Julien Bontemps	Israel (ISR) Shahar Tzuberi
2008: Laser	Great Britain (GBR) Paul Goodison	Slovenia (SLO) Vasilij Žbogar	Italy (ITA) Diego Romero
2008: Men's 470	Australia (AUS) Nathan Wilmot Malcolm Page	Great Britain (GBR) Nick Rogers Joe Glanfield	France (FRA) Nicolas Charbonnier Olivier Bausset
2008: Star	Great Britain (GBR) Iain Percy Andrew Simpson	Brazil (BRA) Robert Scheidt Bruno Prada	Sweden (SWE) Fredrik Lööf Anders Ekström

Open events

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2008: Finn	Great Britain (GBR) Ben Ainslie	United States (USA) Zach Railey	France (FRA) Guillaume Florent
2008: 49er	Denmark (DEN) Jonas Warrer Martin Kirketerp	Spain (ESP) Iker Martínez de Lizarduy Xabier Fernández	Germany (GER) Jan-Peter Peckolt Hannes Peckolt
2008: Tornado	Spain (ESP) Antón Paz Fernando Echavarri	Australia (AUS) Darren Bundock Glenn Ashby	Argentina (ARG) Santiago Lange Carlos Espínola

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain (GBR)	4	1	1	6
2	Australia (AUS)	2	1	0	3
3	Spain (ESP)	1	1	0	2
	United States (USA)	1	1	0	2
5	China (CHN)	1	0	1	2
6	Denmark (DEN)	1	0	0	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	1	0	0	1
8	Netherlands (NED)	0	2	0	2
9	France (FRA)	0	1	2	3
10	Brazil (BRA)	0	1	1	2
	Italy (ITA)	0	1	1	2
12	Lithuania (LTU)	0	1	0	1
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	0	1
14	Argentina (ARG)	0	0	1	1
	Germany (GER)	0	0	1	1
	Greece (GRE)	0	0	1	1
	Israel (ISR)	0	0	1	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	1	1
Totals (18 entries)		11	11	11	33

See also

• Sailing at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Further reading

• "Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896 - 2008)". Digital Library Collection at la84.org. la84foundation. Retrieved 3 March 2014.

Sources

• Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games • Volume I Bid Documents and Analysis: Passion behind the Bid (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
• Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games • Volume III Preparation for the Games: New Beijing Great Olympics (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
• Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games • Volume II Ceremonies and Competitions: Celebration of the Games (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
• Official Results book Part 3 (Sailing) (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
• "Sailing at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
• "Beijing 2008". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.