Sailing at the 1984 Summer Olympics

Sailing at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Special stamp Germany, Olympic Windsurfing 1984
Venues	Long Beach
Dates	First race: 31 July 1984 Last race: 8 August 1980
Sailors	300 (298 male, 2 female) from 60 countries
Boats and Boards	172
Top ranked countries
United States: 3   4   0    New Zealand: 2   0   1    Spain: 1   0   0    Netherlands: 1   0   0

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 1916 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

Long Beach Olympic Harbour
Coordinates: 33°45′35″N 118°11′2″W / 33.75972°N 118.18389°W

Olympic Course Area's 1984.

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. Since the sailing conditions of the coast of Los Angeles are very suitable for Olympic sailing no exception had to be made for the 1984 Sailing event. A total of four race areas were created in the Pacific of the coast of Long Beach. Boardsailing for men was added to the sailing event.

The facilities needed to accommodate the sailing event were simple. According to the official report: "Two paved parking lots and three boat-owner shower facilities were the only existing facilities utilized. The only on-site facilities provided for spectators were a series of bleachers for the award ceremonies and an information booth on the west edge of the site on the marina green. Spectators could sign up for space on a boat that circumvented the race courses."

For the media a number of 40 boats was reserved. All boats were fully booked.

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
5	60	7	152	298	2

Continents

• Africa
• Asia
• Oceania
• Europe
• Americas

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1984 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

Antigua and Barbuda (ANT)  Argentina (ARG)  Australia (AUS)  Austria (AUT)  Bahamas (BAH)  Barbados (BAR)  Belgium (BEL)  Bermuda (BER)  Botswana (BOT)  Brazil (BRA)  Canada (CAN)  Cayman Islands (CAY)  Chile (CHI)  China (CHN)  Denmark (DEN)  Dominican Republic (DOM)  Egypt (EGY)  Spain (ESP)  Fiji (FIJ)  Finland (FIN)  France (FRA)  West Germany (FRG)  Great Britain (GBR)  Greece (GRE)  Guatemala (GUA)  Hong Kong (HKG)  India (IND)  Ireland (IRL)  Iceland (ISL)  Israel (ISR)  Virgin Islands (ISV)  Italy (ITA)  British Virgin Islands (IVB)  Japan (JPN)  South Korea (KOR)  Mexico (MEX)  Malta (MLT)  Netherlands (NED)  Norway (NOR)  New Zealand (NZL)  Oman (OMA)  Pakistan (PAK)  Philippines (PHI)  Portugal (POR)  Puerto Rico (PUR)  Senegal (SEN)  Singapore (SIN)  San Marino (SMR)  Sri Lanka (SRI)  Switzerland (SUI)  Sweden (SWE)  Thailand (THA)  Chinese Taipei (TPE)  Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)  Turkey (TUR)  Uruguay (URU)  United States (USA)  Venezuela (VEN)  Yugoslavia (YUG)  Zimbabwe (ZIM)

1984 Olympic Boycott

In response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, 14 Eastern Bloc countries including the Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany (but not Romania) boycotted the Games. For differing reasons, Iran and Libya also boycotted. The USSR announced its intention not to participate on 8 May 1984, citing security concerns and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States."^[1] The Los Angeles boycott influenced some sailing events. e.g. 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).^[2] In the Flying Dutchman the Soviet team of Sergey Borodinov and Vladyslav Akimenko were absent.

Classes (equipment)

Class	Type	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
Windglider	Surfboard		1	0	+	–	–	1984	1
Finn	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1952	9
470	Dinghy		2	1	+	+	+	1976	3
Flying Dutchman	Dinghy		2	1	+	+	+	1960	7
Tornado	Catamaran		2	1	+	+	–	1976	3
Star	Keelboat		2	0	+	+	–	1932	11
Soling	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	1972	4

1984 Olympic Classes designs

Medal summary

Men's event

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1984: Men's Windglider	Netherlands (NED) Stephan van den Berg	United States (USA) Scott Steele	New Zealand (NZL) Bruce Kendall

Open events

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1984: Finn	New Zealand (NZL) Russell Coutts	United States (USA) John Bertrand	Canada (CAN) Terry Neilson
1984: 470	Spain (ESP) Luis Doreste Roberto Molina	United States (USA) Steve Benjamin Chris Steinfeld	France (FRA) Thierry Peponnet Luc Pillot
1984: Flying Dutchman	United States (USA) Jonathan McKee William Carl Buchan	Canada (CAN) Terry McLaughlin Evert Bastet	Great Britain (GBR) Jonathan Richards Peter Allam
1984: Tornado	New Zealand (NZL) Rex Sellers Chris Timms	United States (USA) Randy Smyth Jay Glaser	Australia (AUS) Christopher Cairns John Anderson
1984: Star	United States (USA) William Earl Buchan Steven Erickson	West Germany (FRG) Joachim Griese Michael Marcour	Italy (ITA) Giorgio Gorla Alfio Peraboni
1984: Soling	United States (USA) Robbie Haines Rod Davis Ed Trevalyan	Brazil (BRA) Torben Grael Daniel Adler Ronaldo Senfft	Canada (CAN) Hans Fogh Stephen Calder John Kerr

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	3	4	0	7
2	New Zealand (NZL)	2	0	1	3
3	Netherlands (NED)	1	0	0	1
	Spain (ESP)	1	0	0	1
5	Canada (CAN)	0	1	2	3
6	Brazil (BRA)	0	1	0	1
	West Germany (FRG)	0	1	0	1
8	Australia (AUS)	0	0	1	1
	France (FRA)	0	0	1	1
	Great Britain (GBR)	0	0	1	1
	Italy (ITA)	0	0	1	1
Total		7	7	7	21

Remarks

Sailing

• The Windglider event was also held for women, but only as an exhibition event. Karen Morch of Canada won the competition.
• Although there was a need for a specific female event, this was the first time a specific men's event Windglider was on the program.

Sailors

During the sailing regattas at the 1984 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

•  Fiji (FIJ), Tony Philp The youngest competitor:(15 years, 48 days)
•  Denmark (DEN), Paul Elvstrøm The oldest participant: (56 years, 158 days)
•  New Zealand (NZL), Russell Coutts

Sailors at the 1984 Olympic Games
On Windglider: Tony Philp  On Windglider: Bruce Kendall.

See also

• Sailing at the Friendship Games

Notes

1. Burns, John F. (9 May 1984). "Protests are Issue: Russians Charge 'Gross Flouting' of the Ideals of the Competition". New York Times.
2. http://www.soling.com/results/ShowResults.asp?ID=330

References

• (ed.) Richard B. Perelman (1985). Official Report Los Angeles 1984,Volume 1: Organization and Planning (PDF). Los Angeles: 1984 Olympic Organizing Committee. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
• (ed.) Richard B. Perelman (1985). Official Report Los Angeles 1984,Volume 2: Competition and Summary and Results (PDF). Los Angeles: 1984 Olympic Organizing Committee. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
• Hugh Drake & Paul Henderson (2009). Canada's Olympic Sailing Legacy, Paris 1924 – Beijing 2008. Toronto: CYA.
• "Los Angeles 1984". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.