Sailing set for more Beijing medals

Sailing has been one of Britain's most successful Olympic sports, with five medals at Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000.

Qualification

Host nation, China, automatically qualifys one boat into each sailing classs for the Olympic Regatta. The majority of places will be awarded to the top finishers at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships to be held on 28th June to 13th July 2007 in Cascais (Portugal), with the remaining places being awarded to the top finishers at the 2008 World Championships for each sailing class.

Class	2007 World Championships	2008 World Championships
Men's RS:X (Windsurfer)	Top 25 finishers	Top 9 finishers
Women's RS:X (Windsurfer)	Top 20 finishers	Top 7 finishers
Men's Laser (One Person Dinghy)	Top 29 finishers	Top 10 finishers
Women's Laser Radial (One Person Dinghy)	Top 19 finishers	Top 6 finishers
Men's 470 (Two Person Dinghy)	Top 21 finishers	Top 8 finishers
Women's 470 (Two Person Dinghy)	Top 13 finishers	Top 5 finishers
Men's Star (Two Person Keelboat)	Top 11 finishers	Top 4 finishers
Women's Yngling (Three Person Keelboat)	Top 11 finishers	Top 4 finishers
Finn (One Person Heavyweight Dinghy)	Top 19 finishers	Top 6 finishers
49er (Two Person Skiff)	Top 13 finishers	Top 5 finishers
Tornado (Three Person Multihull)	Top 11 finishers	Top 4 finishers

Form

British sailors won five medals at the recent Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (see blog of 29 Jan 2006), to add to the successes at the Olympic test event, the Qingdao International Regatta where;

• Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks won the Gold medal in the 49er class
• Ben Ainslee won the Gold medal in the Finn class
• Helena Lucas, Annie Lush and Lucy MacGregor won Silver in the Yngling class
• Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield won Gold in the men's 470 class
• Nic Asher and Elliot Willis won Bronze in the men's 470 class
• Paul Goodison won the Gold medal in the Laser class
• Penny Clarke won Bronze in the Laser Radial class
• Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell won Silver in the Star class

With so many of Britain's top sailors producing good performances at the Olympic venue, the chances look good for more success in Beijing.

What to watch

The Olympic Sailing venue is 830 km from Beijing and Sailing is a difficult spectator sport, so although it's an exciting television spectacle with lots of potential medal winners, we are unlikely to go and see it live.