Sailing at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Sailing
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
VenuesGulf of Naples
DatesFirst race: 29 August 1960 (1960-08-29) (Meulan)
Last race: 7 September 1960 (1960-09-07)
Competitors287 from 46 nations
Boats138
← 1956
1964 →

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 the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1960 consisted of a total of five sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 29 August 1960 to 7 September 1960 off the coast of Naples at the Gulf of Naples.

The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses. The start was made in the center of a set of 8 numbered marks that were places in a circle. During the starting procedure the sequence of the marks was communicated to the sailors. By picking the mark that was most upwind the start could always be made upwind. This system is, at least in certain German lakes, still in use.

Venue

Coordinates: 40°49′35.48″N 14°14′57.97″E / 40.8265222°N 14.2494361°E / 40.8265222; 14.2494361

In the Gulf of Naples, in the zone overlooking Santa Lucia, three ports were used for launching and mooring of the Olympic classes:

  • Mergellina, for Finn (Sea Garden) and Flying Dutchman (Posillipo)
  • Borgo Marinari, for Dragons
  • Molosiglio, for Star and 5.5 Metre

Three course areas were used:

Area Principal race officer Classes Committee vessel
Azzurro Marino Tarabocchia Finn Gaggia
Giallo Egisto Picchi Flying Dutchman
Star
Timo
Rosso Luigi Mino Poggi Dragon
5.5 Metre
Giaggiolo

Competition

Overview

Continents Countries Classes Boats Male Female
5 46 5 138 287 0

Continents

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Oceania
  • Europe
  • Americas

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1960 Olympic Games.
Blue: Water
Gray: Never participated in OG
Dark Gray: Participated in earlier OG
Green: Country participated for the first time
Dark Blue: Country participated also on previous games
Red: Country boycotted the sailing event of the OG
 Argentina (ARG)  Australia (AUS)  Austria (AUT)
 Bahamas (BAH)  Belgium (BEL)  Bermuda (BER)
 Burma (BIR)  Brazil (BRA)  British West Indies (BWI)
 Canada (CAN)  Cuba (CUB)  Denmark (DEN)
 Spain (ESP)  Finland (FIN)  France (FRA)
 Great Britain (GBR)  United Team of Germany (EUA)  Greece (GRE)
 Hungary (HUN)  Indonesia (INA)  Ireland (IRL)
 Italy (ITA)  Japan (JPN)  Kenya (KEN)
 Lebanon (LIB)  Morocco (MAR)  Mexico (MEX)
 Malta (MLT)  Monaco (MON)  Netherlands (NED)
 Norway (NOR)  New Zealand (NZL)  Philippines (PHI)
 Portugal (POR)  Rhodesia (RHO)  South Africa (RSA)
 Singapore (SIN)  Switzerland (SUI)  Sweden (SWE)
 Thailand (THA)  Turkey (TUR)  Soviet Union (URS)
 Uruguay (URU)  United States (USA)  Venezuela (VEN)
 Yugoslavia (YUG)

Classes (equipment)

Class Type Event Sailors Trapeze Mainsail Jib/Genoa Spinnaker First OG Olympics so far
Finn Dinghy 1 0 + 1952 3
Flying Dutchman Dinghy 2 1 + + + 1960 1
Star Keelboat 2 0 + + 1932 6
Dragon Keelboat 3 0 + + + 1948 4
5.5 Metre Keelboat 3 0 + + + 1952 3

= Male, = Female, = Open

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze

1960: Finn
details

 Denmark (DEN)
Paul Elvstrøm
 Soviet Union (URS)
Aleksander Tšutšelov
 Belgium (BEL)
André Nelis

1960: Flying Dutchman
details

 Norway (NOR)
Peder Lunde Jr.
Bjørn Bergvall
 Denmark (DEN)
Hans Fogh
Ole Erik Petersen
 Germany (EUA)
Rolf Mulka
Ingo von Bredow

1960: Star
details

 Soviet Union (URS)
Timir Pinegin
Fyodor Shutkov
 Portugal (POR)
Mário Quina
José Manuel Quina
 United States (USA)
William Parks
Robert Halperin

1960: Dragon
details

 Greece (GRE)
Crown Prince Constantine
Odysseus Eskidioglou
Georgios Zaimis
 Argentina (ARG)
Jorge Salas Chávez
Héctor Calegaris
Jorge del Río Salas
 Italy (ITA)
Antonio Cosentino
Antonio Ciciliano
Giulio De Stefano

1960: 5.5 Metre
details

 United States (USA)
George O'Day
James Hunt
David Smith
 Denmark (DEN)
William Berntsen
Steen Christensen
Sören Hancke
 Switzerland (SUI)
Henri Copponex
Pierre Girard
Manfred Metzger

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Denmark (DEN)1203
2 Soviet Union (URS)1102
3 United States (USA)1012
4 Greece (GRE)1001
 Norway (NOR)1001
6 Argentina (ARG)0101
 Portugal (POR)0101
8 Belgium (BEL)0011
 Italy (ITA)0011
 Switzerland (SUI)0011
 United Team of Germany (EUA)0011
Totals (11 entries)55515

Remarks

Measurement

Measurement at the Olympics became more and more professional.

Sailing

  • Again this Olympic sailing event was gender independent, but turned out to be a Men-only event. This was one of the triggers to create gender specific events. This however had to wait until 1988.
  • Since the distance between Rome and Naples a separate organization was created for the Sailing events. The name of this organization was Solo Mio.
  • The Italian Navy was responsible for the courses and the towing in and out of the yachts. According to the official report this was done on a very prompt manner. and we quote:

The only accident to occur, which resulted in the loss of the Lebanese Flying Dutchman, cannot be imputed to the method employed by the rescue crew after the boat had overturned, but to the incompetence of the Lebanese F.D. crew who attached the tow cable around a belaying cleat fixed to the deck.

  • According to current standards a huge amount of sails was allowed for use during the Olympics (not every boat measured in the maximum number):
    • Finn, 1 sail (for the whole Finn fleet a total of 25 sails were available as spare.)
    • Flying Dutchman, 4 sets of sails (12)
    • Star, 6 sets of sails (12)
    • Dragon 6 sets of sails (18)
    • 5.5 Metre 6 sets of sails (18)
  • 106 journalists of 52 countries were reporting the sailing event.
  • Many former Olympians acted in the race committee, the International jury or measurement committee. Examples are: Peter Scott, Beppe Croce, Eddy Stutterheim, Jean-Jacques Herbulot and Edgar Beyn.

Sailors

During the sailing regattas at the 1960 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:


This page was last updated at 2023-11-10 18:10 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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