Sailing at the 1920 Summer Olympics

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 the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1920 was open for a total of sixteen sailing classes (disciplines), but actually only fourteen Sailing events were contested, because of at the 8.5 metre and 9 metre classes there were no entrants. For each class three races were scheduled from 7 July 1920 to 10 July 1920 off the coast of Ostend at the North Sea.

Sailing
at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Poster Anvers 1920
VenuesOstend
Amsterdam
DatesFirst race: 7 July 1920 (1920-07-07) (Ostend)
Last race: 10 July 1920 (1920-07-10)
Final race: 3 September 1920 (1920-09-03) (Amsterdam)
Competitors100 Male and 1 Female from 6 nations
Boats24

Venue

Royal Yacht Club of Belgium
Royal Yacht Club van België
Burgee of the Royal Yacht Club Belgium
General information
Statusunknown
TypeClubhouse
Country Belgium
Coordinates51°14′2″N 2°55′25″E
ElevationSealevel

Royal Yacht Club of Belgium

Ostend offers a fair condition for sailing on the North Sea. However, there are tidal conditions the current is reasonable predictable. Local knowledge does not have too much influence of the races. The wind conditions are also good for sailing. However, in the case of the 1920 Summer Olympic regatta's the prevailing breeze did not show. Most races had to be sailed under light air conditions.

An unprecedented and unique Olympic situation happened with the races in the 12' Dinghy. When in the second race one of the marks was taken hostage by the tidal current and went drifting the race had to be nullified. Since the organizers did not have the time to resail the race and both teams were of Dutch origin the Belgian organization requested the Dutch Olympic Committee to resail the finals in The Netherlands. As a result, the first Olympic event held in the Netherlands was not in 1928 but already in 1920. As venue of this final the Buiten IJ in Amsterdam was chosen.[1]

Course areas

1920 Olympic Course Area
Course area Ostend, Belgium
Course area 12' Dinghy, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Competition

Overview

Continents Countries Classes Entries Male Female
1614241001|-

A maximum of 2 boats per country per class was allowed.

Continents

Map of Participating Sailing Continents at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Green = Participating for the first time
Blue = Participating
Light Blue = Have previously participated
● Europe

Countries

Source: [2]

Map of Participating Sailing Countries at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Green = Participating for the first time
Blue = Participating
Light Blue = Have previously participated
 Belgium (BEL) France (FRA) Great Britain (GBR) Netherlands (NED)
 Norway (NOR) Sweden (SWE)

Classes (equipment)

Source: [2] The Olympic Sailing event of 1920 was without any doubt the most strangest in history so far. With a program of no less than 16 classes and an entry list that consists of 7 out of 14 classes with just competitor and only one class with more than 3 yachts.

After World War I the International Sailing Authority had obvious no clue in what direction sailing had developed since 1912. The Nordic countries had developed the Skerry Cruiser classes and the International rule classes had adopted in 1919 a new edition of the rule which was not yet implemented in the countries. Therefore, the entries were open for the old, as well the new rule and two Skerry classes. Besides that, an advice from 1908 was followed by putting two one design classes on the program. By doing this the 1920 Olympics acted as a test laboratory from which the IYRU could draw conclusion for the further development of the sport. These lessons learned, not too many different classes and moving towards one design classes, did show during the next Olympic Sailing event and are still taken into account.

ClassTypeVenueEventSailorsFirst OGOlympics so far
12' DinghyDinghyOstend219201
18' DinghyDinghyOstend219201
6.5 MetreKeelboatOstend319201
8.5 MetreKeelboatNo showUnknown19200
6 Metre (2x)KeelboatOstend319083
7 MetreKeelboatOstend219082
8 Metre (2x)KeelboatOstend519083
9 MetreKeelboatNo showUnknown19200
10 Metre (2x)KeelboatOstend819122
12 Metre (2x)KeelboatOstend919083
30m2 Skerry CruiserKeelboatOstend719201
40m2 Skerry CruiserKeelboatOstend819201
Legend: = Mixed gender event

Race schedule

  Opening ceremony  Event competitions  Event finals  Closing ceremony
Date July  BelgiumSeptember  Netherlands
7
Wed
8
Thu
9
Fri
10
Sat
3
Fri
4
Sat
5
Sun
Sailing (planning)







Total gold medals14
Sailing (actual) 1







2
Total gold medals131

Medal summary

Source: [3]

Event Gold Silver Bronze

1920: 12' Dinghy

 Netherlands (NED)
Cornelis Hin
Johan Hin
Frans Hin
 Netherlands (NED)
Arnoud van der Biesen
Petrus Beukers
No further competitors

1920: 18' Dinghy

 Great Britain (GBR)
Francis Richards
Thomas Hedberg
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 6.5 Metre

 Netherlands (NED)
Joop Carp
Berend Carp
Petrus Wernink
 France (FRA)
Albert Weil
Robert Monier
Félix Picon
No further competitors

1920: 6 Metre
1907 rule

 Belgium (BEL)
Emile Cornellie
Frédéric Bruynseels
Florimond Cornellie
 Norway (NOR)
Einar Torgersen
Leif Erichsen
Andreas Knudsen
 Norway (NOR)
Henrik Agersborg
Einar Berntsen
Trygve Pedersen

1920: 6 Metre
1919 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Andreas Brecke
Paal Kaasen
Ingolf Rød
 Belgium (BEL)
Léon Huybrechts
Charles van den Bussche
John Klotz
No further competitors

1920: 7 Metre

 Great Britain (GBR)
Cyril Wright
Robert Coleman
William Maddison
Dorothy Wright
 Norway (NOR)
Johann Faye
Sten Abel
Christian Dick
Neils Neilsen
No further competitors

1920: 8 Metre
1907 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Carl Ringvold
Thorleif Holbye
Alf Jacobsen
Kristoffer Olsen
Tellef Wagle
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 8 Metre
1919 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Magnus Konow
Thorleif Christoffersen
Reidar Marthiniussen
Ragnar Vik
 Norway (NOR)
Jens Salvesen
Finn Schiander
Lauritz Schmidt
Nils Thomas
Ralph Tschudi
 Belgium (BEL)
Albert Grisar
Willy de l'Arbre
Georges Hellebuyck
Léopold Standaert
Henri Weewauters

1920: 10 Metre
1907 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Erik Herseth
Gunnar Jamvold
Petter Jamvold
Claus Juell
Sigurd Holter
Ingar Nielsen
Ole Sørensen
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 10 Metre
1919 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Charles Arentz
Otto Falkenberg
Robert Giertsen
Willy Gilbert
Halfdan Schjött
Trygve Schjøtt
Arne Sejersted
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 12 Metre
1907 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Henrik Østervold
Halvor Birkeland
Rasmus Birkeland
Lauritz Christiansen
Hans Naess
Halvor Mögster
Jan Østervold
Kristian Østervold
Ole Østervold
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 12 Metre
1919 rule

 Norway (NOR)
Johan Friele
Arthur Allers
Martin Borthen
Kaspar Hassel
Erik Ørvig
Olav Örvig
Thor Ørvig
Egill Reimers
Christen Wiese
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 30m2 Skerry cruiser

 Sweden (SWE)
Gösta Lundqvist
Gösta Bengtsson
Rolf Steffenburg
No further competitors No further competitors

1920: 40m2 Skerry cruiser

 Sweden (SWE)
Tore Holm
Yngve Holm
Axel Rydin
Georg Tengwall
 Sweden (SWE)
Gustaf Svensson
Percy Almstedt
Erik Mellbin
Ragnar Svensson
No further competitors

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Norway (NOR)73111
2 Netherlands (NED)2103
 Sweden (SWE)2103
4 Great Britain (GBR)2002
5 Belgium (BEL)1113
6 France (FRA)0101
Totals (6 nations)147223


Other information

Sailing

  • As a result of the First World War,  AUT,  GER,  HUN and  TUR were not invited.
  • The agony athletes develop after finishing fourth at the Olympics must have started at the Olympic Sailing event of 1920. The Belgium 6 Metre team of Louis Depiere, Raymond Bauwens and Willy Valcke finished 4th and became the only sailing team at the 1920 Olympics that went home without a medal.
  • In the Sailing regattas, Norway took 7 gold medals. This boost put them in the higher regions of the medal table. They still profit from this boost.

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

Further reading

  • "Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896 - 2008)". Digital Library Collection at la84.org. la84foundation. Retrieved 8 February 2015.

References

  1. Heijmans, Jeroen. "Nederlands goud (5)". Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  2. Belgium Olympic Committee, ed. (1957). Olympic Games 1920 – Official Report (PDF). Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  3. "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 7 February 2015.

"Antwerp 1920". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.


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