The Olympic sailing classes have been used in the sport of

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

Yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, ...

during the

Olympic Summer Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

since 1896. Since then, 46 different classes have been used.

History

Over a period of more than 112 years, in a sport that uses complex technical equipment, classes will be discontinued for use at the Olympics. Reasons for discontinuation of a class varied from economical, logistical and technological to emotional and even political. Some of the discontinued classes remain very strong International - or National classes. Others filled a niche in a specific area like sailing schools or local club racing. Some faded away. The "Former Olympic Sailing Classes", together with their crews form an important and significant part of the history of

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

in general and Olympic Sailing in particular. These tables give an overview of the classes and when they were used for Olympic sailing.

Current Olympic Classes

Discontinued Olympic Classes

Pre-WWII games (1900–1936)

Post-WWII games (1948—2020)

Legend

* ( • ) Open Class event (Male and Female) * ( M ) Male event * ( F ) Female event * ( Fm ) Female Matchrace event * ( Of ) Open with a minimum of one female * ( C ) Combined open event (Fleetrace and Matchrace) * ( Mix ) Mixed (e.g. One Male & One Female Crew) * ( H ) Heavyweight Dinghy event * ( P ) High Performance Dinghy event * ( VIP ) Vintage Inter Pares event (sailoff between the winners of each Vintage Yachting event)

References

International Sailing Federation
*

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olympic Sailing Classes sailing classes