Sailing at the 1996 Summer Olympics

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. 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

• Africa
• Asia
• Oceania
• Europe
• Americas

Countries

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Classes (equipment)

|File:Olympic Classes 1996.svg|

Medal summary

Women's events

Men's events

Open events

Medal table

Remarks

Wildcards

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

• ALG – Mistral One Design Men, (No show)
• GUA – Mistral One Design Men, Cristian Ruata (45th)
• INA – Mistral One Design Men, I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana (13th)
• THA – Mistral One Design Men, Arun Homraruen (21st)
• GUM – Laser, Brett Chivers, (44th)
• SMR – Laser, Luca Belluzzi (56th)
• SUD – Laser, (No show)
• CUB – 470 Men, Pedro Fernández & Angel Alfredo Jimenez (26th)
• 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: |File:Galfridman.jpg|

Gal Fridman |File:Alessandra Sensini.jpg|

Alessandra Sensini |File:Scheidt robert sac.jpg|

Robert Scheidt |File:Mateusz Kusznierewicz.jpg|

Mateusz Kusznierewicz |File:IRL Toomas Tõniste.jpg|

Toomas Tõniste |File:Gaebler portrait.jpg|

Roland Gäbler |File:Torben Grael.jpg|

Torben Grael |File:Ldoreste.jpg|

Luis Doreste

Notes

References

References

1. "Sailing at the 1996 Summer Olympics". Olympedia.