Sailing at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Venues	Savannah
Dates	First race: 22 July 1996 (1996-07-22) Last race: 2 August 1996 (1996-08-02)
Competitors	458 from 78 nations
Boats	312
←  1992 2000 →

Sailing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Mistral	men	women
Europe		women
Laser	open
Finn	men
470	men	women
Tornado	open
Star	open
Soling	open
v t e

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 canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1996 consisted of a total of ten sailing classes (disciplines). For each class, with the exception of the Soling, eleven races were scheduled from 22 July to 2 August 1996 off the coast of Savannah at the Wassaw Sound (an area of the Atlantic Ocean). For the Soling ten fleetraces were scheduled followed by a series of matchraces for the top 6 boats of the fleetrace result. ^[1]

Venue

Day Marina
Coordinates: 31°56′01″N 80°56′59″W / 31.93361°N 80.94972°W / 31.93361; -80.94972

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. An exception was made for the Olympic yachting events, which customarily must be staged on the open sea. On account of this principle, the city of Savannah was chosen for the organization of the sailing events. Spectators were given the opportunity to board boats that will sail out to the courses to provide a close look at the competition. About 1000 spectators per day made use of the opportunity.

The sailing events were held off the coast of Savannah at the Wassaw Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The venue used three locations:

• Satellite Olympic Village in Savannah
• Olympic marina on Wilmington Island. The Stars and Solings, were towed between the Olympic marina and their race areas.
• Day marina, a temporary barge system (14,000 m²) near the north side of Wassaw Sound at the mouth of the Wilmington River. The day marina was used as a forward launch area for the dinghies and windsurf boards.

Separate course areas were used for the following pairs of classes:

• Mistral one-design (men and women)
• Europe and Laser
• Finn and Star
• 470 (men and women)
• Tornado and Soling (fleetracing)
• Soling (matchracing)

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
6	78	10	312	358	100

Continents

• Africa
• Asia
• Oceania
• Europe
• Americas

Countries

Netherlands Antilles (AHO)   Andorra (AND)   Antigua and Barbuda (ANT)   Argentina (ARG)   American Samoa (ASA)   Australia (AUS)   Austria (AUT)   Bahamas (BAH)   Barbados (BAR)   Belgium (BEL)   Bermuda (BER)   Belarus (BLR)   Brazil (BRA)   Bahrain (BRN)   Canada (CAN)   Cayman Islands (CAY)   Chile (CHI)   China (CHN)   Cook Islands (COK)   Croatia (CRO)   Cuba (CUB)   Cyprus (CYP)   Czech Republic (CZE)   Denmark (DEN)   Djibouti (DJI)   Ecuador (ECU)   Spain (ESP)   Estonia (EST)   Fiji (FIJ)   Finland (FIN)   France (FRA)   Great Britain (GBR)   Georgia (GEO)   Germany (GER)   Greece (GRE)   Guatemala (GUA)   Guam (GUM)   Hong Kong (HKG)   Hungary (HUN)   Indonesia (INA)   Ireland (IRL)   Israel (ISR)   Virgin Islands (ISV)   Italy (ITA)   British Virgin Islands (IVB)   Jamaica (JAM)   Japan (JPN)   South Korea (KOR)   Latvia (LAT)   Saint Lucia (LCA)   Malaysia (MAS)   Mexico (MEX)   Malta (MLT)   Netherlands (NED)   Norway (NOR)   New Zealand (NZL)   Paraguay (PAR)   Poland (POL)   Portugal (POR)   Puerto Rico (PUR)   Qatar (QAT)   Romania (ROM)   South Africa (RSA)   Russia (RUS)   Seychelles (SEY)   Singapore (SIN)   Slovenia (SLO)   San Marino (SMR)   Switzerland (SUI)   Slovakia (SVK)   Sweden (SWE)   Thailand (THA)   Chinese Taipei (TPE)   Turkey (TUR)   Ukraine (UKR)   Uruguay (URU)   United States (USA)   Venezuela (VEN)

Classes (equipment)

Class	Type	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jibb/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
Mistral One Design Class	Surfboard		1	0	+	–	–	1996	1
Mistral One Design Class	Surfboard		1	0	+	–	–	1996	1
Europe	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1992	2
Laser	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1996	1
Finn	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1952	12
470	Dinghy		2	1	+	+	+	1988	3
470	Dinghy		2	1	+	+	+	1976	6
Tornado	Multihull		2	1	+	+	–	1976	6
Star	Keelboat		2	0	+	+	–	1932	14
Soling	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	1972	7

Medal summary

Women's events

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1996: Women's Mistral One Design details	Hong Kong (HKG) Lee Lai-shan	New Zealand (NZL) Barbara Kendall	Italy (ITA) Alessandra Sensini
1996: Europe details	Denmark (DEN) Kristine Roug	Netherlands (NED) Margriet Matthijsse	United States (USA) Courtenay Becker-Dey
1996: Women's 470 details	Spain (ESP) Theresa Zabell Begoña Vía Dufresne	Japan (JPN) Yumiko Shige Alicia Kinoshita	Ukraine (UKR) Ruslana Taran Olena Pakholchik

Men's events

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1996: Men's Mistral One Design details	Greece (GRE) Nikolaos Kaklamanakis	Argentina (ARG) Carlos Espinola	Israel (ISR) Gal Fridman
1996: Finn details	Poland (POL) Mateusz Kusznierewicz	Belgium (BEL) Sébastien Godefroid	Netherlands (NED) Roy Heiner
1996: Men's 470 details	Ukraine (UKR) Yevhen Braslavets Ihor Matviyenko	Great Britain (GBR) John Merricks Ian Walker	Portugal (POR) Victor Rocha Nuno Barreto

Open events

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1996: Laser details	Brazil (BRA) Robert Scheidt	Great Britain (GBR) Ben Ainslie	Norway (NOR) Peer Moberg
1996: Tornado details	Spain (ESP) Fernando León José Luis Ballester	Australia (AUS) Mitch Booth Andrew Landenberger	Brazil (BRA) Lars Grael Henrique Pellicano
1996: Star details	Brazil (BRA) Torben Grael Marcelo Ferreira	Sweden (SWE) Hans Wallén Bobby Lohse	Australia (AUS) Colin Beashel David Giles
1996: Soling details	Germany (GER) Jochen Schümann Thomas Flach Bernd Jäkel	Russia (RUS) Georgy Shayduko Dmitri Shabanov Igor Skalin	United States (USA) Jeff Madrigali Jim Barton Kent Massey

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Brazil (BRA)	2	0	1	3
2	Spain (ESP)	2	0	0	2
3	Ukraine (UKR)	1	0	1	2
4	Denmark (DEN)	1	0	0	1
	Germany (GER)	1	0	0	1
	Greece (GRE)	1	0	0	1
	Hong Kong (HKG)	1	0	0	1
	Poland (POL)	1	0	0	1
9	Great Britain (GBR)	0	2	0	2
10	Australia (AUS)	0	1	1	2
	Netherlands (NED)	0	1	1	2
12	Argentina (ARG)	0	1	0	1
	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
	Japan (JPN)	0	1	0	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	0	1	0	1
	Russia (RUS)	0	1	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	0	1
18	United States (USA)	0	0	2	2
19	Israel (ISR)	0	0	1	1
	Italy (ITA)	0	0	1	1
	Norway (NOR)	0	0	1	1
	Portugal (POR)	0	0	1	1
Totals (22 entries)		10	10	10	30

Remarks

Wildcards

After the qualification was finished the following sailors were granted a wildcard:

•   Algeria (ALG) – Mistral One Design Men, (No show)
•   Guatemala (GUA) – Mistral One Design Men, Cristian Ruata (45th)
•   Indonesia (INA) – Mistral One Design Men, I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana (13th)
•   Thailand (THA) – Mistral One Design Men, Arun Homraruen (21st)
•   Guam (GUM) – Laser, Brett Chivers, (44th)
•   San Marino (SMR) – Laser, Luca Belluzzi (56th)
•   Sudan (SUD) – Laser, (No show)
•   Cuba (CUB) – 470 Men, Pedro Fernández & Angel Alfredo Jimenez (26th)
•   Sudan (SUD) – 470 Men, (No show)

Incidents

• The Olympic sailing facility at Savannah was before the opening of the Olympic Games (10 July) within the Hurricane Bertha warning area. Tornados, Stars and Solings were moved to the Sheraton facility. The Day Marina and the Sheraton were evacuated; the evacuation was complete by 6 PM.

Weather conditions

The winds on a typical day in Savannah begin is as follows:

• In the morning a light breeze from the west to the Northwest at about 5 knots
• The winds diminish in the late mornings
• By midday, the sea breeze circulation begins. When the sea breeze does rise, the winds backs to the south and Southeast
• Wind speed in the afternoon average between 7 and 12 knots

Olympic weather reports were provided by the National Weather Service from the locations Atlanta and Savannah. Doppler weather radar was used from Charleston, South Carolina. From Jacksonville, Florida the weather above the offshore courses was observed.

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1996 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

Notes

References

• The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (1997). The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, Volume I Planning and Organization (PDF). Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
• The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (1997). The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, Volume II The Centennial Olympic Games (PDF). Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
• The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (1997). The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, Volume III The Competition Results (PDF). Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
• Hugh Drake & Paul Henderson (2009). Canada's Olympic Sailing Legacy, Paris 1924 - Beijing 2008. Toronto: CYA.
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sailing at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
• "IYRU Olympic Update". ISAF. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2011.