Sailing At The Olympics 2008 !

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The Olympic Games open Aug. 8 in Beijing and the sailing competition off Qingdao begins the next day.
Sailing at the Olympics 2008:
Venue: Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center
Location: City of Qingdao


Qingdao is located on the southern coastline of the Shandong Peninsula, in east China's Shandong Province. Dubbed "Eastern Switzerland", Qingdao is one of China's most important port cities. The Qingdao International Sailing Center for the Games of the 29th Olympiad is located on the old site of the Beihai shipyard by Qingdao's Fushan Bay in China's Shangdong Province. The Center will cover a total area of 45 hectares (450,000 sq.m.), two thirds of which will be utilised for the competitions.



Sailing first became an Olympic sport in Paris in 1900, where time handicaps were used to adjudicate the race. The race format and the classes of competing boats have changed frequently since then. Olympic racing is now conducted with boats categorised into one-design classes based on similar weights and measurements.


Sailors from 62 nations will take to the world's greatest sporting stage this August as they battle on the Yellow Sea at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Sailing Competition.

Confirmation of national places has been received by the International Sailing Federation, along with provisional entry lists detailing the athletes who will compete across the 11 events of the Olympic Sailing Competition. Entries range from multiple medallists looking to expand their entry in Olympic sailing history to new faces aiming to demonstrate their talent on the world's greatest sporting stage. Amongst the 62 nations, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates enter athletes to the sailing events of the Olympic Games for the first time.


In total 400 athletes will compete at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao, including four of the gold medal winning teams from Athens, who return to defend their titles. The British Women's Keelboat team also features two of the three crew who won the gold medal in 2004, whilst a further three gold medallists from Athens will compete in different events to those in which they triumphed four years ago.

All the competing athletes will face a new challenge in Qingdao with the introduction of the new Medal Race format for all 11 events. Following an initial opening series held over five days of racing, the top ten crews will progress to a final Medal Race where points scores are doubled and the 2008 Olympic Champions will be decided.

Stay tuned in as we cover more on India's past in the Olympics of Sailing !..