Sailing at the 1984 Summer Olympics
| Sailing at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Special stamp Germany, Olympic Windsurfing 1984
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Venues | Long Beach | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | First race: 31 July 1984 Last race: 8 August 1980 |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Sailors | 300 (298 male, 2 female) from 60 countries | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Boats and Boards | 172 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Top ranked countries | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Long Beach Olympic Harbour | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Coordinates: 33°45′35″N 118°11′2″W / 33.75972°N 118.18389°W |
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 possibly 1916 sailing was always a part of the Olympic program. The Sailing program of 1984 consisted of a total of seven sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 31 July 1984 to 8 August 1984 of the coast of Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California at the Pacific Ocean. Los Angeles hosted the Olympic sailing competitions for the second time, having previously done so during the 1932 Summer Olympics. The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses.
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 the sailing conditions of the coast of Los Angeles are very suitable for Olympic sailing no exception had to be made for the 1984 Sailing event. A total of four race areas were created in the Pacific of the coast of Long Beach. Boardsailing for men was added to the sailing event.
The facilities needed to accommodate the sailing event were simple. According to the official report: "Two paved parking lots and three boat-owner shower facilities were the only existing facilities utilized. The only on-site facilities provided for spectators were a series of bleachers for the award ceremonies and an information booth on the west edge of the site on the marina green. Spectators could sign up for space on a boat that circumvented the race courses."
For the media a number of 40 boats was reserved. All boats were fully booked.
In response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, 14 Eastern Bloc countries including the Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany (but not Romania) boycotted the Games. For differing reasons, Iran and Libya also boycotted. The USSR announced its intention not to participate on 8 May 1984, citing security concerns and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States." The Los Angeles boycott influenced some sailing events. e.g. In the Soling the silver and bronze medalists of the 1984 worlds were missing (SR33, Boris Budnikov, Gennadi Strakh and Oleg Miron and DDR4, Helmar Nauck, Norbert Helriegel and Sven Diedering). In the Flying Dutchman the Soviet team of Sergey Borodinov and Vladyslav Akimenko were absent.
...
Wikipedia