Olympic Sailing Participation

Participation in Olympic Sailing:

Is it fair and representative of sailing and the world as a whole? Probably not.

. . . ..

Something like 270 teams comprising 400 sailors from 62 countries are participating in Olympic sailing events in 2008. Only a third of the approximately 200 countries (including territories, possessions and independent states with Olympic committees) that participate in the Olympics compete in sailing. Further, 20 countries participated in only one sailing event; only 23 countries in all participated in most of the sailing events. And, the events are far away from the other Olympic events and are poorly covered by television, with no broadcast network coverage in the USA.

. . . ..

Only five countries participated in all eleven sailing events: China, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States.

Eighteen more countries participated in most events: Australia (10), Spain (10), Canada (9), Brazil (8), Greece (8), Poland (8), Argentina (7), Croatia (7), Netherlands (7), New Zealand (7), Russia (7), Sweden (7), Austria (6), Finland (6), Germany (6), Japan (6), Norway (6), Switzerland (6).

. . . ..

. .

Which countries would be lost from this year’s Olympic sailing events if a given class were deleted?

470 (men/women): NONE

49er: NONE

Finn: 1 (India)

Laser full rig (men): 10 Barbados, Chile, Dominican Rep., Guatemala, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Seychelles, UA Emirates, Uruguay, US Virgins,

Laser radial (women): 3 (Lithuania, Paraguay, Peru)

RS:X Sailboard: 7 (Hong Kong, Thailand, Bulgaria, Chinese Taipei, Columbia, Indonesia, Slovak Republic)

Star: NONE

Tornado (multihull): NONE

Yngling (women): 1 (Rep S Africa)

. ..

…

Diversity of Representation

. .

	N. Amer/ Carib (7)	S Amer (8)	Africa (2)	Asia (11)	Europe (32)	Oceania (2)	% from outside Europe & US:
Laser men (43)	6	5	1	6	23	2	44
RS:X men (35)	3	4	0	7	20	1	40
RS:X women (27)	3	2	0	4	16	2	37
470 women (20)	2	2	0	3	12	1	35
Laser radial women (28)	3	3	0	2	18	2	32
470 men (29)	2	2	0	4	19	2	31
Finn (26)	2	2	0	2	18	2	27
Tornado (15)	2	1	0	1	10	1	27
Yngling (15)	1	0	1	1	10	1	27
49er (19)	2	1	0	2	13	1	26
Star (16)	1	1	0	1	11	2	25

. .

. .

You could refine these scores more by putting Canada, Australia, and New Zealand into the Euro-US group and removing eastern Europe, but the conclusions would likely be the same – the Lasers and board sailing events get more cultural diversity and participation, whereas the Star and 49er are pretty much a white boy’s boat. We seem to have lots of boats with two white boys on board each.

. .

Star: Outside Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand, the only countries to compete in the Star were Brazil and China (which competed in all events).

49er: Outside Europe, USA, Canada, and Australia, the only countries to compete in the 49er were Brazil, China (which competed in all events), and Japan.

. .

. .

Event	Men/ women	Crew No.	Board/keel/ multihull	Countries	% of 62 countries	% of teams
Laser Full	Men	1	Board	43	70	16
RS:X men	Men	1	Board	35	56	13
470 Men	Men	2	Board	29	47	11
Laser Radial	Women	1	Board	28	45	10
RS:X women	Women	1	Board	27	43	10
Finn	Men	1	Board	26	42	10
470 Women	Women	2	Board	19	31	7
49er	Men	2	Board	16	26	6
Star	Men	2	Keel	16	26	6
Tornado	Men	2	Multi	15	24	6
Yngling	Women	3	Keel	15	24	6

. ..

. .

Overlap versus under-representation?

7 events for men, 4 for women

. .

1 multihull and 2 keelboats out of 11 events

. .

A team of two men can choose to sail on the 470, 49er, Star, or Tornado; two women can sail on the 470.. .

The Yngling is the only boat for a team of 3 or more and is limited to women. . .

The Tornado is the only multihull and has been voted out of future Olympics

. .

. ..

. .

Overrepresented: Dual men (470, 49er, Star, Tornado)

Possibly overrepresented: Single men (Laser, RS:X, Finn)

. .

Underrepresented:

No co-ed events are provided, even though this is the format of choice in most high school and college events.

No co-ed or men’s events are provided for a team of 3 or more.

No multi-hull events will be provided in 2012.

No team racing or match racing events are provided.

Keelboats only get two of eleven events.

Women get only about a third of events.

. .

. . Conclusions:

. .

Replace the Tornado with co-ed multihull; something like a Hobie or other beach cat ought to be exciting.

Replace the Star with a co-ed keelboat for a team of 3 or 4 (Etchells, Sonar, J/24, etc.) that perhaps could be match-raced.

Eliminate the Finn.

Women’s match racing would be an acceptable alternative to the present fleet racing on the Yngling, especially if women were more represented overall.

. .

. .

Sailing Participation in the 2008 Olympics by Continent

North America and Caribbean Sea

No.

Cont.

No. entr.

Country

470M

470W

49er

Finn

Laser M

Laser Rad

RS:X men

RS:X wom

Star

Tornado

Yngling

99

x

(29)

(19)

(19)

(26)

(43)

(28)

(35)

(27)

(16)

(15)

(15)

4

1 NAM

1

Barbados

BAR

9

1 NAM

9

Canada

CAN

CAN

CAN

CAN

CAN

CAN

CAN

CAN

CAN

17

1 NAM

1

Dominican R

DOM

25

1 NAM

1

Guatamala

GUA

39

1 NAM

2

Mexico

MEX

MEX

MEX

61

1 NAM

11

United States

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

USA

32

1 NAM

1

Virgin Islands

ISV

South America

No.

Cont.

No. entr.

Country

470M

470W

49er

Finn

Laser M

Laser Rad

RS:X men

RS:X wom

Star

Tornado

Yngling

1

2 SAM

7

Argentina

ARG

ARG

ARG

ARG

ARG

ARG

ARG

7

2 SAM

8

Brazil

BRA

BRA

BRA

BRA

BRA

BRA

BRA

BRA

10

2 SAM

1

Chile

CHI

12

2 SAM

1

Columbia

COL

43

2 SAM

1

Paraguay

PAR

44

2 SAM

1

Peru

PER

60

2 SAM

1

Uruguay

URU

62

2 SAM

3

Venezuela

VEN

VEN

VEN

Africa

No.

Cont.

No. entr.

Country

470M

470W

49er

Finn

Laser M

Laser Rad

RS:X men

RS:X wom

Star

Tornado

Yngling

47

3 AFR

1

Rep S Africa

RSA

49

3 AFR

1

Seychelles

SEY

Asia

No.

Cont.

No. entr.

Country

470M

470W

49er

Finn

Laser M

Laser Rad

RS:X men

RS:X wom

Star

Tornado

Yngling

11

4 ASI

11

China

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

CHN

56

4 ASI

1

Chinese Taipei

TPE

26

4 ASI

2

Hong Kong

HKG

HKG

29

4 ASI

1

India

IND

28

4 ASI

1

Indonesia

INA

34

4 ASI

6

Japan

JPN

JPN

JPN

JPN

JPN

JPN

35

4 ASI

3

Korea

KOR

KOR

KOR

38

4 ASI

1

Malaysia

MAS

50

4 ASI

4

Singapore

SIN

SIN

SIN

SIN

55

4 ASI

2

Thailand

THA

THA

58

4 ASI

1

United Arab E

UAE

Europe

No.

Cont.

No. entr.

Country

470M

470W

49er

Finn

Laser M

Laser Rad

RS:X men

RS:X wom

Star

Tornado

Yngling

3

5 EUR

6

Austria

AUT

AUT

AUT

AUT

AUT

AUT

6

5 EUR

3

Belarus

BLR

BLR

BLR

5

5 EUR

2

Belgium

BEL

BEL

8

5 EUR

1

Bulgaria

BUL

13

5 EUR

7

Croatia

CRO

CRO

CRO

CRO

CRO

CRO

CRO

15

5 EUR

4

Cyprus

CYP

CYP

CYP

CYP

14

5 EUR

3

Czech Rep

CZE

CZE

CZE

16

5 EUR

5

Denmark

DEN

DEN

DEN

DEN

DEN

19

5 EUR

2

Estonia

EST

EST

20

5 EUR

6

Finland

FIN

FIN

FIN

FIN

FIN

FIN

21

5 EUR

11

France

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

FRA

23

5 EUR

6

Germany

GER

GER

GER

GER

GER

GER

22

5 EUR

11

Great Britain

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

24

5 EUR

8

Greece

GRE

GRE

GRE

GRE

GRE

GRE

GRE

GRE

27

5 EUR

3

Hungary

HUN

HUN

HUN

30

5 EUR

4

Ireland

IRL

IRL

IRL

IRL

31

5 EUR

5

Israel

ISR

ISR

ISR

ISR

ISR

33

5 EUR

11

Italy

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

ITA

36

5 EUR

1

Lithuania

LTU

37

5 EUR

1

Luxembourg

LUX

40

5 EUR

7

Netherlands

NED

NED

NED

NED

NED

NED

NED

41

5 EUR

6

Norway

NOR

NOR

NOR

NOR

NOR

NOR

45

5 EUR

8

Poland

POL

POL

POL

POL

POL

POL

POL

POL

46

5 EUR

5

Portugal

POR

POR

POR

POR

POR

48

5 EUR

7

Russia

RUS

RUS

RUS

RUS

RUS

RUS

RUS

53

5 EUR

1

Slovak Rep

SVK

51

5 EUR

4

Slovenia

SLO

SLO

SLO

SLO

18

5 EUR

10

Spain

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

ESP

54

5 EUR

7

Sweden

SWE

SWE

SWE

SWE

SWE

SWE

SWE

52

5 EUR

6

Switzerland

SUI

SUI

SUI

SUI

SUI

SUI

57

5 EUR

5

Turkey

TUR

TUR

TUR

TUR

TUR

59

5 EUR

4

Ukraine

UKR

UKR

UKR

UKR

Oceania

No.

Cont.

No. entr.

Country

470M

470W

49er

Finn

Laser M

Laser Rad

RS:X men

RS:X wom

Star

Tornado

Yngling

2

6 OCE

10

Australia

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

AUS

42

6 OCE

7

New Zealand

NZL

NZL

NZL

NZL

NZL

NZL

NZL