Sailing at the 1976 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 1976 consisted of six sailing classes (disciplines). For each class, seven races were scheduled from 19 July 1976 to 27 July 1976 off the coast of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. The sailing was done on the triangular-type Olympic courses.[1]

Sailing
at the Games of the XXI Olympiad


Woodcarves of the Olympic classes at the
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
VenuesKingston
DatesFirst race: 19 July 1976 (1976-07-19)
Last race: 27 July 1976 (1976-07-27)
Competitors257 (256 male), (1 female) from 40 nations
Boats130
Sailing at the
1976 Summer Olympics
FinnOpen
470Open
Flying DutchmanOpen
TornadoOpen
TempestOpen
SolingOpen

Venue
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
Olympic Flame
Coordinates: 44°13′03″N 76°30′31″W
Olympic Course Area's 1976.

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 Montréal was not a suitable place the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Kingston, Ontario, constructed in 1969, was reconstructed in 1974 in time for the 1976 Olympic Sailing event. A total of three race areas were created on Lake Ontario.

The distance from the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour to course area Bravo (red) was about 5 nmi (9.3 km) From there it was another 5 nmi (9.3 km) to the course area's Alpha (yellow) and Charlie (blue). This however ensured wind conditions without local effects.

Competition

Overview
Continents Countries Classes Boats Male Female
44061302561

Continents
  • Asia
  • Oceania
  • Europe
  • Americas

Countries
Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1976 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
 Argentina (ARG) Australia (AUS) Austria (AUT)
 Bahamas (BAH) Belgium (BEL) Bermuda (BER)
 Brazil (BRA) Canada (CAN) Cayman Islands (CAY)
 Colombia (COL) Denmark (DEN) Spain (ESP)
 Finland (FIN) France (FRA) Great Britain (GBR)
 East Germany (GDR) West Germany (FRG) Greece (GRE)
 Guatemala (GUA) Hungary (HUN) Ireland (IRL)
 Israel (ISR) Virgin Islands (ISV) Italy (ITA)
 Japan (JPN) Mexico (MEX) Monaco (MON)
 Netherlands (NED) Norway (NOR) New Zealand (NZL)
 Philippines (PHI) Poland (POL) Portugal (POR)
 Puerto Rico (PUR) Switzerland (SUI) Sweden (SWE)
 Thailand (THA) Soviet Union (URS) United States (USA)
 Yugoslavia (YUG)

Classes (equipment)
ClassTypeEventSailorsTrapezeMainsailJib/GenoaSpinnakerFirst OGOlympics so far
FinnDinghy10+––19527
470Dinghy21+++19761
Flying DutchmanDinghy21+++19605
TornadoCatamaran21++–19761
TempestKeelboat21+++19722
SolingKeelboat30+++19722
1976 Olympic Classes designs

Medal summary
Event Gold Silver Bronze

1976: Finn

 East Germany (GDR)
Jochen Schümann		  Soviet Union (URS)
Andrei Balashov		  Australia (AUS)
John Bertrand

1976: 470

 West Germany (FRG)
Frank Hübner
Harro Bode		  Spain (ESP)
Antonio Gorostegui
Pedro Millet		  Australia (AUS)
Ian Brown
Ian Ruff

1976: Flying Dutchman

 West Germany (FRG)
Jörg Diesch
Eckart Diesch		  Great Britain (GBR)
Rodney Pattisson
Julian Brooke-Houghton		  Brazil (BRA)
Reinaldo Conrad
Peter Ficker

1976: Tornado

 Great Britain (GBR)
Reginald White
John Osborn		  United States (USA)
David McFaull
Michael Rothwell		  West Germany (FRG)
Jörg Spengler
Jörg Schmall

1976: Tempest

 Sweden (SWE)
John Albrechtson
Ingvar Hansson		  Soviet Union (URS)
Valentin Mankin
Vladyslav Akimenko		  United States (USA)
Dennis Conner
Conn Findlay

1976: Soling

 Denmark (DEN)
Poul Richard Høj Jensen
Valdemar Bandolowski
Erik Hansen		  United States (USA)
John Kolius
Walter Glasgow
Richard Hoepfner		  East Germany (GDR)
Dieter Below
Olaf Engelhardt
Michael Zachries

Medal table
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 West Germany (FRG)2013
2 Great Britain (GBR)1102
3 East Germany (GDR)1012
4 Denmark (DEN)1001
 Sweden (SWE)1001
6 United States (USA)0213
7 Soviet Union (URS)0202
8 Spain (ESP)0101
9 Australia (AUS)0022
10 Brazil (BRA)0011
Totals (10 nations)66618

Remarks

Facilities

At the Portsmouth area a new Olympic facility was constructed. This building was built to contain all facilities needed during that period. It holds for instance a large measurement hall and several exercise rooms. Only the size of the overhead doors of the measurement hall was not wide enough to bring a fully assembled Tornado in. Each had to be lifted on one side to enter diagonally.

Sailing

After the races in the Tempest an unprecedented incident occurred:

Alan Warren and David Hunt set their Tempest on fire. With this boat they won the silver medal in 1972 but during the transport to Canada the boat called "Gift 'orse" was damaged. Warren and Hunt ended in Kingston on place 14. After the incident Warren stated: "The Horse was lame and we had to put her down."

The story did not end there. Canadian customs couldn't accept that the boat was not available for them to inspect.

Sailors

During the sailing regattas at the 1972 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

Sailors at the 1976 Olympic Games

References
  1. "Sailing at the 1976 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 June 2020.

Sources
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