Olympic Games 1996

IYRU Olympic Update

OLYMPIC UPDATE

RECORD ENTRY

For the first time, there has been a qualification for nation's wishing to send competitor's to the Olympic Regatta. Despite this at the time of going to press, 76 Nation's are planning to send competitor's. This would be a record entry. 68 Nation's attended the Olympic Regatta in Barcelona.

On 15 May 1996, National Olympic Committees advised the Atlanta Organising Committee for the Olympic Games of the number of competitors they would be entering in each sport. Based on these figures the number of entries to the Olympic Regatta still exceeds the 443 limit. However many national authorities and national Olympic Committee have not yet finalised their qualification proceedures and in fact the final entries need only be made by 7 July 1996.

Such a late deadline is obviously causing great difficulties in passing on places to those countries on the waiting list and also means that wildcards cannot yet be given. To try to assist the sailors who are anxiously waiting to hear whether they have a place, the IYRU is endeavouring to obtain confirmation of entries from national Olympic Committees as soon as possible. Once the number of withdrawals of preliminary entries means that the total number of entries is at a `safeÕ level, the IYRU will allocate places to the first nation on each waiting list from the qualification regattas.

Yachting has never before been restricted on the number of competitors entering the Olympic Games and the IYRU and its member nations have learnt a great deal from the experiences of the past two years. The Events Committee have been working hard for several months to establish a fair system of qualification for the 2000 Olympic Regatta.

The IYRU is confident that on 21 July, all the nations who wanted to be on the starting line in Savannah will be there.

OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION

Qualification regattas were necessary in the European Group in five of the Olympic Classes. The IYRU is grateful to the Federazione Italiana Vela and the Real Federacion Espanola de Vela for hosting the European nations in the Star, Soling, 470 women, Finn and Europe classes.

Star
19 nations entered the Star Qualifier in Malcesine, Italy (8-12 April) and the top 15 nations (Italy, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Switzerland, Georgia, Belarus, Portual, Finland, Russia and Great Britain) were guaranteed a place for their country to enter the event at the 1996 Olympic Regatta. The Netherlands, Hungary, Slovenia and Ukraine are on the waiting list and will receive a place if sufficient entries are withdrawn.

Soling
19 nations entered the Soling Qualifier in Sanremo, Italy (8-12 April) and the top 15 nations (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Russia, Ireland, Greece, France, Austria, Ukraine, Hungary, Norway and Finland) were guaranteed a place for their country to enter the event at the 1996 Olympic Regatta. The Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Belarus are on the waiting list and will receive a place if sufficient entries are withdrawn.

470 women
17 nations entered the 470 women Qualifier in Murcia, Spain (12-17 April) and the top 16 nations (Italy, Ukraine, Spain, Israel, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, France, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium and Russia) were guaranteed a place for their country to enter the event at the 1996 Olympic Regatta. Austria is on the waiting list and will receive a place if sufficient entries are withdrawn.

Finn
24 nations entered the Finn Qualifier in Murcia, Spain (12-17 April) and the top 20 nations (Austria, Spain, France, Finland, Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden, Croatia, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Greece and the Slovak Republic) were guaranteed a place for their country to enter the event at the 1996 Olympic Regatta. Hungary, Estonia, Portugal and Turkey are on the waiting list and will receive a place if sufficient entries are withdrawn.

Europe
26 nations entered the Europe Qualifier in Murcia, Spain (12-17 April) and the top 19 nations (Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Great Britain, Finland, Germany, France, Estonia, Norway, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium and Belarus) were guaranteed a place for their country to enter the event at the 1996 Olympic Regatta. Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Latvia, Ukraine and Turkey are on the waiting list and will receive a place if sufficient entries are withdrawn.

TWO RACES EACH DAY

For the first time, competitor's at the 1996 Olympic Regatta will be scheduled to sail two races each day, rather than one which has been the normal practice until now. Races will be shorter than at previous Olympic Games, the duration being defined time by rather than distance. The elapsed times, and the time limits, planned for each class will be:

Target
Time Race
Time Limit Class

Mistral 35 60

Laser, Europe, 470 & Tornado 60 90

Finn - Trapezoid 75 120

Finn - Triangle 90 150

Star & Soling 75 120

NEW COURSES

New courses have been introduced for all classes. In general, the leg lengths have been reduced meaning that more marks are rounded during each race.

IMCO One-Design, Laser, Europe and 470
Trapezoid Inner ZI S (start) -1-4G-1-2-3-F (reaching finish)
Trapezoid Inner Extra XI S (start)-1-4G-1-4G-1-2-3-F (reaching finish)
Trapezoid Outer ZO S (start)-1-2-3-2-3-F (reaching finish)
Trapezoid Outer Extra XO S (start)-1-2-3-2-3-2-3-F (reaching finish)

Star
Windward/Leeward WD S (start)-1-4G-1-F (downwind finish)
Windward/Leeward Extra WX S (start)-1-4G-1-4G-1-F (downwind finish)
Triangle TU S (start)-1-2-4-1-4-F (upwind finish)

Finn
Trapezoid Outer-Upwind ZU S (start)-1-2-3-2-3-F (upwind finish)
Triangle TU S (start)-1-2-4-1-4-F (upwind finish)

Soling
Trapezoid Outer ZO S (start)-1-2-3-2-3-F (reaching finish)

Tornado
Windward/Leeward WD S (start)-1-4G-1-F (downwind finish)
Windward/Leeward Extra WX S (start)-1-4G-1-4G-1-F (downwind finish)

SUPPLIED EQUIPMENT

In line with past practice, some competitive equipment is to be provided. Equipment is being supplied in the men's and women's Board event, with Mistral providing the IMCO One -Design boards and rigs, the men's and women's single-handed dinghies, with hulls and foils from Vanguard and Finessa respectively and the Open dinghy, with all racing equipment from Sunfish Laser. The IYRU are very grateful to all the companies involved for their support of the event.

MEASUREMENT

Measurement for 470s, Tornados, Stars and Solings will begin on 12 July at the Olympic Marina in Savannah. All boats to be used in the above events will be measured before the start of the competition to ensure fair play. The Measurement Draw has been made and the schedule will be circulated to all national authorities shortly.

Draws for the supplied equipment (IMCO Mistral One-Designs, Finns, Europes and Lasers) will take place on 8 July.

Daily random post-race measurement will take place for all classes once racing has commenced.

IDENTIFICATION

For the first time, vests will be used in all classes to help in the identification of boats in television and photographic images. The bibs will bear the IOC three letter country code and will be worn by the helmsman in each class.

The helmsman of the boats in first, second and third place overall at the start of racing each day will be issued with a yellow, blue and red vest respectively. The vest will match the dot carried on the bow or sail of the boat, helping further to identify the leaders.

The last name of each crew member will appear on the foot of the mainsail in each class, again in an effort to help identify the competitors. This is an entirely new departure for the event.

SPECTATOR BOATS

Spectator boats will tour the four course areas each day. The boats will leave each morning, either from River Street in downtown Savannah or from Hilton Head Island. Drinks and lunch will be served on board. 150 tickets have been made provided to the IYRU at a preferential rate. These will be available to teams in Savannah for use by families and other interested parties. Those interested should contact the IYRU.

MARK BY MARK ROUNDINGS

The mark by mark roundings from each course can be access through the IYRU Website at http://www.sailing.org. The information will appear in close to real time, allowing people around the world to follow the action as it unfolds. The changes in position and times between the boats will be displayed. Most importantly, the event standings will be continually updated, based on the mark rounding order, so that the overall leaders can be readily identified at any time. This will give us the most comprehensive results service from any small boat event ever.

TELEVISION

The Olympic Regatta will be filmed by New Zealand TV for broadcast around the world. One course will be filmed live each day, with the last race in each event being specially featured. The producers will use the latest hi-tech equipment including Westcam gyro cameras in boats and helicopters, radio microphones on buoys and on cameras and microphones on the Solings during the Match Racing event.

With the experience of NZTV in producing high quality sailing programmes the coverage of the 1996 Olympic Regatta promises to be the best and most comprehensive ever.

IYRU Olympic Update