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. sailing was always a part of the Olympic program. The Sailing program of 1984 consisted of a total of seven sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 31 July 1984 to 8 August 1984 of the coast of Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California at the Pacific Ocean. Los Angeles hosted the Olympic sailing competitions for the second time, having previously done so during the 1932 Summer Olympics. The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses.
Venue
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. The sailing conditions off the coast of Los Angeles are very suitable for Olympic sailing. A total of four race areas were created in the Pacific off the coast of Long Beach.
For the media a number of 40 boats was reserved. All boats were fully booked.
Competition
Overview ContinentsCountriesClassesBoatsMaleFemale 5 60 7 152 298 2
Continents Africa Asia Oceania Europe Americas
Countries
1984 Olympic Boycott
The Los Angeles boycott by the Soviet Union and its satellites influenced some sailing events. In the Soling the silver and bronze medalists of the 1984 worlds were missing (SR33, Boris Budnikov, Gennadi Strakh and Oleg Miron and DDR4, Helmar Nauck, Norbert Helriegel and Sven Diedering). In the Flying Dutchman the Soviet team of Sergey Borodinov and Vladyslav Akimenko were absent.
Classes (equipment) Class Type Discipline Gender Sailors Trapeze Mainsail Jib/Genoa Spinnaker First OG Olympics so far Windglider Surfboard Fleet Open 1 0 + – – 1984 1 Finn Dinghy Fleet Open 1 0 + – – 1952 9 470 Dinghy Fleet Open 2 1 + + + 1976 3 Flying Dutchman Dinghy Fleet Open 2 1 + + + 1960 7 Tornado Catamaran Fleet Open 2 1 + + – 1976 3 Star Keelboat Fleet Open 2 0 + + – 1932 11 Soling Keelboat Fleet Open 3 0 + + + 1972 4
Medal summary
1984: Windglider Netherlands (NED)Stephan van den Berg United States (USA)Scott Steele New Zealand (NZL)Bruce Kendall
1984: Finn New Zealand (NZL)Russell Coutts United States (USA)John Bertrand Canada (CAN)Terry Neilson
1984: 470 Spain (ESP)Luis DoresteRoberto Molina United States (USA)Steve BenjaminChris Steinfeld France (FRA)Thierry PeponnetLuc Pillot
1984: Flying Dutchman United States (USA)Jonathan McKeeWilliam Carl Buchan Canada (CAN)Terry McLaughlinEvert Bastet Great Britain (GBR)Jonathan RichardsPeter Allam
1984: Tornado New Zealand (NZL)Rex SellersChris Timms United States (USA)Randy SmythJay Glaser Australia (AUS)Christopher CairnsScott Anderson
1984: Star United States (USA)William Earl BuchanSteven Erickson West Germany (FRG)Joachim GrieseMichael Marcour Italy (ITA)Giorgio GorlaAlfio Peraboni
1984: Soling United States (USA)Robbie HainesRod DavisEd Trevalyan Brazil (BRA)Torben GraelDaniel AdlerRonaldo Senfft Canada (CAN)Hans FoghStephen CalderJohn Kerr
Medal table
Remarks
Demonstration events The Windglider event was held for men and women. The women's event was the first women-only sailing event in Olympic history. Karen Morch of Canada won the gold medal. In the men's event, the gold medal was won by the Australian Bruce Wylie.
Sailors During the sailing regattas at the 1984 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes: , Tony Philp The youngest competitor:(15 years, 48 days) , Paul Elvstrøm The oldest participant: (56 years, 158 days) , Russell Coutts
See also Sailing at the Friendship Games
Notes
References