Multihull (Tornado), Open

The Tornado boats had been changed since the 1996 Olympics with the addition of a second trapeze, which allows a sailor to stand on the boat edge to counter the boat’s weight and keep it flatter while turning.

The Austrian crew of helmsman Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher won this class in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic sailing history. After nine races they had five wins, two second, a third, and a fourth. The pair did not start the final two races and still won, the only time this has occurred at the Olympics (through 2012), although in the 1948 Star, the crew could have skipped two races and won, and in the 1952 Finn, Paul Elvstrøm could have skipped the final three races. The Austrian crew was known as specialists in light winds, which was the case for most of their races. Hagara and Steinacher would defend their gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. Silver medalist John Forbes of Australia had won a bronze medal in this event in 1992, but with a different helmsman.