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 eleven 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.
The confirmation of a place at the Olympic Games is the culmination of four years dedication to pursuing a sporting dream. Over 2,500 sailors competed at ten qualification regattas across Europe, Oceania and North America to secure their nation a place at the Games, before battling against their national rivals for selection to the team of their National Olympic Committee. Amongst the sailors who have realised the first part of their Olympic dream are 14 athletes who have received support through the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship Programme.
Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb of Great Britain also both won gold in 2004 in the Women's Keelboat event along with helm Shirley Robertson. However, the team parted ways after Athens and Ayton took over at the back of the boat to be joined again by Webb and new team mate Pippa Wilson. Competing in the tactically challenging Yngling keelboat, this crew will be competing against two other gold medal winners from Athens: at the helm of the Norwegian Yngling, Siren Sundby, who won gold in the single-handed Europe dinghy in Athens; and Sofia Bekatorou helming the Greek Yngling, a gold medallist in the two-person 470 four years ago. The final gold medallist from Athens competing in Qingdao is the great Brazilian sailor Robert Scheidt. After winning two gold and one silver medal along with eight World Championship titles in the one person Laser dinghy, Scheidt has teamed up with Bruno Prada and switched to the Men's Keelboat event in the Star boat.
Other famous Olympians on their way to Qingdao are Barbara Kendall of New Zealand, a triple Olympic medallist in the Women's Windsurfing event and a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission. Competing against her will be her great rival and another three-time Olympic medallist, Alessandra Sensini of Italy.
At the forefront of the challenge from the host nation will be Athens silver medallists Jian Yin in the Women's Windsurfer event. The young but highly talent Lijia Xu also starts amongst the favourites in the Women's One Person Dinghy event sailed in the Laser Radial.
Please note the entry list below is provisional. The final deadline for National Olympic Committees to summit entry forms is 23 July.
Full entry lists, including links to ISAF Sailor Biogs - including biographical information, results and World Rankings for each sailor - can be found on the ISAF Olympic Games microsite www.sailing.org/olympics.
Entries By Event
(Event - Equipment)
Female events
Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial (28 entries confirmed, 28 athletes)
Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470 (19 entries confirmed, 38 athletes)
Women's Keelboat - Yngling (15 entries confirmed, 45 athletes)
Multihull - Tornado (15 entries confirmed, 30 athletes)
Women's Windsurfer - RS:X (27 entries confirmed, 27 athletes)
Entries By Nation and Name
Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial
(28 entries confirmed, 28 athletes)
Argentina - Cecilia Carranza
Australia - Sarah Blanck
Belarus - Tatiana Drozdovskaya
Belgium - Evi Van Acker
Canada - Lisa Ross
Croatia - Mateja Petronijevic
Finland - Tuula Tenkanen
France - Sarah Steyaert
Germany - Petra Niemann
Great Britain - Penny Clark
Greece - Eftychia Mantzaraki
Ireland - Ciara Peelo
Israel - Nufar Edelman
Italy - Larissa Nevierov
Lithuania - Gintare Volungeviciute
Mexico - Tania Elias Calles
New Zealand - Jo Aleh
Norway - Cathrine Gjerpen
Paraguay - Florencia Cerutti
Peru - Paloma Schmidt
Poland - Katarzyna Szotynska
PR China - Xu Lijia
Russia - Anastasia Chernova
Singapore - Man Yi Lo
Spain - Susana Romero
Sweden - Karin Soderstrom
Switzerland - Nathalie Brugger
USA - Anna Tunnicliffe
Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470
(19 entries confirmed, 38 athletes)
Argentina - Fernanda Sesto and Consuelo Monsgur
Australia - Elise Rechichi and Tess Parkinson
Austria - Sylvia Vogl and Carolina Flatscher
Brazil - Oliveira Fernanda and Isabel Swan
Czech Republic - Lenka Smidova and Lenka Mrzilkova
France - Ingrid Petitjean and Gwendolyn Lemaitre
Germany - Stefanie Rothweiler and Vivien Kussatz
Great Britain - Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark
Israel - Nike Kornecki and Vered Bouskila
Italy - Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol
Japan - Ai Kondo and Naoko Kamata
Netherlands - Marcelien De Koning and Lobke Berkhout
PR China - Wen Yimei and Yu Chunyan
Singapore - Liying Toh and Hui Min Deborah Ong
Slovenia - Vesna Dekleva Paoli and Klara Maucec
Spain - Natalia Via-Dufresne and Laia Tutzo
Sweden - Therese Torgersson and Vendela Santen
Switzerland - Emmanuelle Rol and Anne-Sophie Thilo
USA - Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler
Women's Keelboat - Yngling
(15 entries confirmed, 45 athletes)
Australia - Krystal Weir, Karyn Gojnich and Angela Farrell
Canada - Jennifer Provan, Martha Henderson and Katie Abbott
Finland - Silja Lehtinen, Maria Klemetz and Livia Varesmaa
France - Anne Le Helley, Catharine Lepesant and Julie Gerecht
Germany - Urike Schumann, Ute Hopfer and Julia Bleck
Great Britain - Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson
Greece - Sofia Bekatorou, Sofia Papadopoulou and Virginia Kravarioti
Italy - Calligaris Chiara, Francesca Scognamillo and Giulia Pignolo
Netherlands - Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen
Norway - Siren Sundby, Alexandra Koefoed and Lise Birgitte Fredriksen
PR China - Song Xiaqun, Yu Yanli and Li Xiaoni
Russia - Ekaterina Skudina, Diana Krutskikh and Natalia Ivanova
South Africa - Dominique Provoyeur, Penny Alison and Kim Rew
Spain - Monica Azon, Sandra Azon and Graciela Pisonero
USA - Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi
Multihull - Tornado
(15 entries confirmed, 30 athletes)
Argentina - Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola
Australia - Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby
Austria - Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher
Belgium - Carolijn Brouwer and Sebastien Godefroid
Canada - Oskar Johannson and Kevin Stittle
France - Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon
Germany - Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz
Great Britain - Leigh McMillan and Will Howden
Greece - Iordanis Paschalides and Konstantinos Trigonis
Italy - Francesco Marcolini and Edoardo Bianchi
Netherlands - Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis
PR China - Chen Xiuke and Luo Youjia
Spain - Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz
Ukraine - Pavlo Kalynchev and Andriy Shafranyuk
USA - John Lovell and Charles Ogletree
Women's Windsurfer - RS:X
(27 entries confirmed, 27 athletes)
Argentina - Florencia Gutierrez
Australia - Jessica Crisp
Brazil - Patricia Freitas
Bulgaria - Irina Konstantinova-Bontemps
Canada - Nikola Girke
Cyprus - Gavriela Hadjidamianou
Denmark - Bettina Honore
Finland - Tuuli Petaja
France - Faustine Merret
Great Britain - Bryony Shaw
Greece - Frai Athina
Hong Kong - Wai Kei Chan
Hungary - Diane Detre
Israel - Maayan Davidovich
Italy - Alessandra Sensini
Japan - Yasuko Kosuge
Mexico - Demita Vega Delille
New Zealand - Barbara Kendall
Norway - Jannicke Stålstrøm
Poland - Zofia Klepacka
PR China - Yin Jian
Russia - Tatiana Bazuk
Spain - Marina Alabau
Thailand - Napalai Tansai
Turkey - Sedef Koktenturk
Ukraine - Olga Maslivets
USA - Nancy Rios
| | |
