Sailing at the 1960 Summer Olympics

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.^[1]

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

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:

Competition

Overview

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	Denmark (DEN) Paul Elvstrøm	Soviet Union (URS) Aleksander Tšutšelov	Belgium (BEL) André Nelis
1960: Flying Dutchman	Norway (NOR) Peder Lunde Jr. Bjørn Bergvall	Denmark (DEN) Hans Fogh Ole Erik Petersen	Germany (EUA) Rolf Mulka Ingo Von Bredow
1960: Star	Soviet Union (URS) Timir Pinegin Fyodor Shutkov	Portugal (POR) Mário Quina José Manuel Quina	United States (USA) William Parks Robert Halperin
1960: Dragon	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	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

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Denmark (DEN)	1	2	0	3
2	Soviet Union (URS)	1	1	0	2
3	United States (USA)	1	0	1	2
4	Greece (GRE)	1	0	0	1
	Norway (NOR)	1	0	0	1
6	Argentina (ARG)	0	1	0	1
	Portugal (POR)	0	1	0	1
8	Belgium (BEL)	0	0	1	1
	Italy (ITA)	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	0	1	1
	United Team of Germany (EUA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 nations)		5	5	5	15

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:

• Austria (AUT), Gotfrid Köchert, father of actress Bibi Besch and future grandfather of actress Samantha Mathis, in the 5.5 Metre
• Australia (AUS), Jock Sturrock in the 5.5 Metre. Appointed flag-bearer of the Australian team at the opening ceremony in Rome, in recognition of becoming the first athlete to represent Australia in four Olympic Games. Later, skippered "Gretel" and "Dame Pattie", the first two Australian challengers for the America's Cup, and in 1962 was awarded the Lindy Award as Australian Sportsman of the year, the Helms Award for Australian Yachtsman of the year, and was honoured as Australian of the Year
• Denmark (DEN), Paul Elvstrøm winning his fourth consecutive Gold medal, this time in the Finn
• Finland (FIN), Peter Tallberg, future President of the International Yacht Racing Union (1986–1994), in the 5.5 Metre
• Philippines (PHI), Francisco Paula Gonzales, future mass murderer for crashing Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 (1964)
• Thailand (THA), Birabongse Bhanudej, Prince of Thailand, in the Star

References

Sources

• The Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVII Olympiad (1960). The Games of the XVII Olympiad Rome 1960, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume One (pdf).
• The Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVII Olympiad (1960). The Games of the XVII Olympiad Rome 1960, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Two (a) (pdf).
• The Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVII Olympiad (1960). The Games of the XVII Olympiad Rome 1960, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee Volume Two (b) (pdf).
• Hugh Drake & Paul Henderson (2009). Canada's Olympic Sailing Legacy, Paris 1924 – Beijing 2008. Toronto: CYA.
• "Rome 1960". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.