SAILING AT THE 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS

'Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics' in Beijing will be held from August 9 to 21. The competition will take place in Qingdao, at Qingdao International Marina.
The events consist of four classes for men, four for women, and three mixed classes that are open to both men and women. Since the 2004 Games, three events will be competed on new equipment. The has been selected to replace the Mistral for both Men's and Women's sailboard, and the Laser Radial will replace the Europe (dinghy) as the Women's single-handed dinghy.

Contents

Competition Format

Qualification

Qualification Timeline

External Links

References

Competition Format

Races in all events are sailed in a fleet racing format. The contestants race around the course in a group, and each boat earns a score equal to its finishing position. The scores are summed up over the series of races, with the lowest total score the winner. Contestants are allowed to drop their worst score. Most classes race 11 times and drop the worst score, except the 49er which races 16 times and drops the worst two scores.

Qualification

Main articles: Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Qualification

Approximately 75% of the spots in each sailing class will be awarded to the top finishers at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships. The remaining 25% will be awarded to the top finishers at the 2008 World Championships for each sailing class.

Men	Equipment	Host Nation	2007 World Championships	2008 World Championships
Windsurfer		CHN	Top 25 finishers	Top 9 finishers
One Person Dinghy	Laser	CHN	Top 29 finishers	Top 10 finishers
Two Person Dinghy	470	CHN	Top 21 finishers	Top 8 finishers
Keelboat	Star	CHN	Top 11 finishers	Top 4 finishers
Women	Equipment	Host Nation	2007 World Championships	2008 World Championships
Windsurfer		CHN	Top 20 finishers	Top 7 finishers
One Person Dinghy	Laser Radial	CHN	Top 19 finishers	Top 6 finishers
Two Person Dinghy	470	CHN	Top 13 finishers	Top 5 finishers
Keelboat	Yngling	CHN	Top 10 finishers	Top 4 finishers
Open	Equipment	Host Nation	2007 World Championships	2008 World Championships
Heavyweight Dinghy	Finn	CHN	Top 19 finishers	Top 6 finishers
Skiff	49er	CHN	Top 13 finishers	Top 5 finishers
Multihull	Tornado	CHN	Top 11 finishers	Top 4 finishers

Qualification Timeline

Date	Event	Location
June 28-Jul. 13, 2007	2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships (All Events)	Cascais, POR
Jan. 2-9, 2008	2008 49er World Championships	Sydney, AUS
Jan. 21-28, 2008	2008 470 World Championships	Melbourne, AUS
Jan. 10-20, 2008	2008 RS:X World Championships	Auckland, NZL
Feb. 4-13, 2008	2008 Laser World Championships	Terrigal, Australia
Mar. 16-21, 2008	2008 Laser Radial World Championships	Auckland, New Zealand
Apr. 7-18, 2008	2008 Star World Championships	Miami, USA
Feb. 9-15, 2008	2008 Yngling World Championships	Miami, USA
TBD	2008 Finn World Championships	TBD
Feb. 22-Mar. 1, 2008	2008 Tornado World Championships	Auckland, NZL

External Links

International Sailing Federation
US Sailing
International Olympic Committee - Sailing

References

http://www.sailing.org/olympics2008