Sailing at the 1988 Summer Olympics

The Olympic yachting program was gradually increasing in size, with eight events in 1988, after it had increased to seven in 1984. In 1984 men had competed in windsurfing but in 1988 this was changed to a mixed event. The men and women did, however, have a separate event in the 470 class. The women’s 470 class was the first time that women competed on their own in Olympic yachting. The 1988 Olympic yachting competition took place at the Busan Yachting Center in Busan, Korea, about 325 km (202 miles) from Seoul on the southeast coast of Korea. The Yachting Center was built between 1983-86 specifically for the 1988 Olympics. The venue turned out to be one of the windiest ever for Olympic yachting, with one day of racing postponed due to too much wind.

The scoring system was the Olympic standard that had been introduced in 1968, and which was used through the 1992 Olympics. This was a modified point-for-place scoring system in each race, with the best six of seven race scores to count towards the final total. To break ties, the total of all seven race scores were used. If a boat did not finish, was disqualified, or did not start a race, it was awarded points equal to the number of boats entered in the event, or the highest score possible.

Fourteen (14) nations won medals in 1988 Olympic yachting, the most ever to this time. The United States won the most medals with five, followed by New Zealand with three, but France won two gold medals, the only nation to do so. The other six events were divided among six nations – Denmark, German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Great Britain, New Zealand, Spain, and the United States.