Paris 2024 Olympic Games: calendar, date, location, history… Everything you need to know about sailing

Olympic Games 2016 Sailing EPA – OLIVIER HOSLET

Avant les Jeux Olympiques (26 juillet-11 août), découvrez le mode d’emploi de toutes les disciplines. Focus sur la voile.

The origins

Sailing made its appearance at the Olympic Games in 1900. It was scheduled in 1896 in Athens, but bad weather conditions prevented the events.

Since then, sailing has continued to be part of the Olympic Games, with the exception of the Games in Saint-Louis (United States) in 1904, even if its program has evolved considerably depending on the popularity of the boats.

Bienvenue à la Marina de Marseille ⛵️

Sur la corniche, on peut imaginer les Jeux ! La nouvelle Marina du Roucas Blanc est inaugurée et prête à accueillir les meilleurs athlètes mondiaux sous le vent de la Méditerranée 🌬️

Début des épreuves de voile dans 116 jours 🥇
📸… pic.twitter.com/jcrc2dUwdT

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) April 3, 2024

At the beginning, sailing was dominated by large boats with sometimes 10 to 12 crew members. From 1924, and especially from the 1950s, the use of monotypes carried out by one, two or three people became widespread.

The Trials

Ten events: four women's, four men's, two mixed

Women: Windsurfing IQFoil, Kitefoil, Ilca 6 and 49erFX dinghies

Men: Windsurfing IQFoil, Kitefoil, Ilca 7 and 49er

Mixed: Nacra 17 foiling catamaran, dinghies 470

The big news for Paris 2024 will be the arrival of two new foiling disciplines. This submerged fin allows the board or hull to be lifted out of the water, which limits hydrodynamic drag and significantly increases speed.

The dates

The sailing events will be held from Sunday July 28 to Thursday August 8.

The first of these new disciplines is the IQFoil, a foil windsurf board which replaces the RS: X, a traditional windsurf board.

The other support to be included in the program is the kitefoil, a foil kitesurf, which takes the place of the Finn, a dinghy which was present at the Games since Helsinki in 1952.

All events are contested in fleet regattas on a prescribed course marked by buoys. Depending on the category, the regattas last between 20 and 50 minutes.

The competition

Competitors: 330 competitors from more than 65 countries, with equal participation between women and men. Each country is authorized to present one boat per event. Three countries, France, host country, Germany and Great Britain will be represented in the 10 disciplines. The fleets are made up of around twenty participants, except in Ilca 6 and Ilca 7, where there are nearly 45.

Format : In catamarans and dinghies, each event consists of a first series of 10 to 12 rounds, points being awarded according to the order of finish (one point for the winner, two for 2nd, three for 3rd…). Each crew can rule out a bad result. The ten boats having accumulated the fewest points at the end of this first series are qualified for the Medal Race, a sort of final.

In this final regatta, the points count double and are added to those of the first series to establish the ranking of the first 10 and therefore the three medalists. In the event of a tie, the boat with the best ranking in this Medal Race is the winner.

In IQFoil and kitefoil, there are more preliminary regattas and the medals are distributed at the end of a final phase contested according to a quarter-final, semi-final, final format.

The site

The events will take place over several “navigation rounds” in the southern harbor of Marseille. “It’is an extremely complex body of water, anything but stereotypical. It is surrounded by reliefs, some high, and this gives very diverse and difficult winds and sea conditions. It’s a magnificent playground", summarizes the director of the French team Philippe Mourniac.

Sailing Olympics 2024 MAXPPP – Thalia Sauvaget/Le Pictorium

Nations and stars to follow

Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Australia are the traditional powers of Olympic sailing.

In 49erFX, Brazilians Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze will aim for a third consecutive gold medal. Italians Caterina Banti and Ruggero Tita, three-time reigning world champions, are in the running for a second Olympic title.

Among the French, Camille Lecointre (470), two-time bronze medalist, hopes for gold with Jérémie Mion. This is also the case for Laurianne Nolot, ultra-dominant in kitefoiling. Charline Picon, Olympic champion and Olympic vice-champion in windsurfing in 2016 and 2020, is taking an incredible gamble with her reconversion to 49erFX, where she teams up with Sarah Steyaert.