Eighty athletes representing 25 countries in three keelboat classes - the 2.4mR, the SKUD 18, and the

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

, took part in

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 chose ...

in the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

. Sailing was held in two designated areas on the Yellow Sea,

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

province, from September 8 to September 13. Competitors had a wide range of physical disabilities including degenerative nerve disease, blindness, missing limbs, and polio. Boats were prepared and launched from the docks of the

Qingdao International Sailing Centre The Qingdao International Sailing Centre () is a sailing marina located on the former site of the Beihai Shipyard by Qingdao's Fushan Bay at Shandong Province in China. It was constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted the Olympic and Par ...

, which also included the accessible Qingdao Paralympic Village, a 5-star hotel which previously housed the Olympic Sailing athletes.

Events

Three sailing events were held. All were mixed events, meaning that men and women could compete together. International disability classification in sailing is done by a committee, which gives each competitor a number score with lower numbers corresponding to more severe disability. Sailors were classified under the IFDS Functional Classification System 2005 (FCS 2005). To take part in Paralympic sailing, an athlete must have a score of 7 or less. Functional Classification System full details

The 2-person keelboat (SKUD18) made its official début in the Paralympics. The only Paralympic class keelboat with a spinnaker, emblazoned with the national flag of each country. Of the 11 countries competing in the SKUD event, 7 had female crew.

Results

Eighty athletes represented twenty-five countries in the three event classes
Qualification full details

Medal table

This ranking sorts countries by the number of gold medals earned by their sailors (in this context a country is an entity represented by a

National Paralympic Committee A National Paralympic Committee (NPC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Paralympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), NPCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the ...

. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically.

Medallists

In the 2-person keelboat event, all three of the medal-winning teams were composed of one man and one woman. Those three women were the first women to win Paralympic medals in sailing. Sailing competition athletes and full results.

One Person Keelboat - 2.4 Metre

Two Person Keelboat - SKUD 18

Open Three-Person Keelboat - Sonar

References

External links

2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition, QingdaoOfficial site of the 2008 Summer ParalympicsIFDS/ International Association for Disabled SailingISAF/ International Sailing Federation
{{Paralympic Games Sailing

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2008 Summer Paralympics events

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

Sailing competitions in China