Olympic Games 1996

22 JULY 1996 - 2
YACHTING COMPETITION STARTS TODAY

Racing is scheduled to start at 13:00 hours with the first of 11 races for each sailing class (except the Soling event which sails fleet races, with the top six proceeding to a match racing final) with the exception of the 470 men and 470 women whose competition starts on Wednesday. A second race is also planned for this afternoon. However a forecast of thunderstorms may cause some delays.

They represent the finest sailors from around the world, not only coming from the one-design International Classes but include many who have sailed in events such as the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round-the-World Yacht Race, and in other major International events.

At Barcelona in 1992, 443 sailors from 68 nations competed while at Seoul there were 370 competitors. A major boost in numbers is in the new Open Single-handed dinghy (Laser) which makes its Olympic debut with 56 entries - the largest fleet of this 26th Olympiad.

Of significance for these Centennial Olympics is the increased number of women competing. This year there are 100 women competing - at Barcelona there were 82 women, and only 42 at Seoul.

The Women's Single-handed dinghy (Europe) has attracted 28 competitors while there are 27 competitors in the Women' Board (Mistral) discipline and 44 competitors in the Women's Double-handed dinghy (470) discipline. One woman, Canadian Joanne Abbott, is sailing as crew with her husband Bill Abbott Jr and Brad Boston in the Soling Fleet/Match Race Keelboat, open, (Soling), in a fleet of 22 boats (66 athletes).

This is the first time a woman has sailed in the Soling class in the Olympic Games. Joanne, a chartered accountant, is the mother of four children, including twin 12-year-old sons. Competition in Olympic sailing is limited to one entry per nation for each event. Entries for each event are as follows:

Board's Men (Mistral) - 46
Board's Women (Mistral) - 27
Single-handed Dinghy Men (Finn) - 31
Single-handed Dinghy Women (Europe) - 28
Double-handed Dinghy Men (470) - 36 (72 athletes)
Double-handed Dinghy Women (470) - 22 (44 athletes)
Open Dinghy (Laser) - 56
Multiple (Tornado) - 19 (28 athletes)
Two-person Keelboat (Star) - 25 (50 athletes)
Fleet/Match Race Keelboat (Soling) - 22 (66 athletes)

National teams from 68 countries range from one athlete only to full teams of 16 athletes. The nations with full teams are: Australia (AUS), Canada (CAN), Spain (ESP), Great Britain (GBR), Italy (ITA), New Zealand (NZL) and the United States (USA).

In contrast, the Cook Islands (COK) is represented by just one athlete, Women's Boardsailor Turia Vogel.

USA, ESP and NZL were the dominant nations on the medal count and top eight finishes at Barcelona. USA led with one gold, six silver and two bronze followed by ESP with four gold and one silver. NZL won one gold, two silver and one bronze and France won two gold. Twelve nations shared the 10 medal events compared to 14 countries for eight events in 1988.

Austrian (AUT) sailor Hubert Raudaschl will make Olympic history when he competes in his 10th Olympic Games, skippering in the Star class. The sailor from Salzburg is believed to be the very first athlete in any sport to ever compete in the Olympics ten times in a row.

Since he first represented his country in the Rome Olympics in 1960, Raudaschl had won two silver medals one in Finn dinghies at Mexico in 1968 and one in the Star at Moscow in 1980. He has also won many World and European Championships.

Many siblings are sailing this year's centennial Games. Tine Moberg-Parker is sailing for Canada in the Europe class while her brother, Peer Moberg, is sailing in the Laser class for Norway. Tine is married to a Canadian and has been competing for Canada since 1993.

Estonian sailors Tonu and Toomas Toniste are sailing together once again in the 470 Men's event. They won a silver at Seoul in 1988 and a bronze at Barcelona in 1992.

In the Tornado multihull class, Walter and Marco Pirinoli (ITA) are sailing together. They were the 1995 World Champions in the Tornado class and are expected to be strong medal prospects here at Savannah.

Today is also a significant date for Brazil's Star class skipper Torben Grael, who is celebrating his 36th birthday at his fourth Olympics. He has won the bronze medal in the Star class at Seoul in 1988 and a silver in the Soling class at Los Angeles in 1984. He is also a well know offshore racing sailor, winning the One Ton Cup in 1992 and the Mumm 36 European Championship in 1994.

Good sailing to all!