Sailing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
| Sailing at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad |
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| Venues | Savannah | |||||||||||||||
| Dates | First race: 22 July 1996 Last race: 2 August 1996 |
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| Sailors | 461 (361 male, 100 female) from 78 countries | |||||||||||||||
| Boats and Boards | 312 | |||||||||||||||
| Top ranked countries | ||||||||||||||||
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| Day Marina | |
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| Coordinates: 31°56′01″N 80°56′59″W / 31.93361°N 80.94972°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 1996 consisted of a total of ten sailing classes (disciplines). For each class, with the exception of the Soling, eleven races were scheduled from July 22 to August 2, 1996 of the coast of Savannah at the Wassaw Sound (an area of the Atlantic Ocean). For the Soling ten fleetraces were scheduled followed by a series of matchraces for the top 6 boats of the fleetrace result. The sailing was done on the various types of course configurations.
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. An exception was made for the Olympic yachting events, which customarily must be staged on the open sea. On account of this principle, the city of Savannah was chosen for the organization of the sailing events. Spectators were given the opportunity to board boats that will sail out to the courses to provide a close look at the competition. About 1000 spectators per day made use of the opportunity.
The sailing events were held of the coast of Savannah at the Wassaw Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The venue used three locations:
Separate course areas were used for the following pairs of classes:
1996: Women's Mistral One Design
1996: Europe
1996: Women's 470
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