Three-Person Keelboat (Soling), Open

Soling had been the Olympic three-person keelboat class at the Olympics since 1972. In 1972 there were two three-person keelboat classes, with the Dragon also held, but that class would be eliminated after 1972. After 2000 there were no further three-person keelboat events for men or mixed classes, but women would contest the Yngling class, a three-person keelboat, at the 2004-08 Olympics, and the Elliott 6-metre class at the 2012 Olympics.

There were 16 boats entered, with six fleet races held to advance 12 teams to two groups of round-robin match races. The top three boats in each group advanced to quarter-final round-robin of match racing. This was won by Denmark and Germany, who each won four races. The Netherlands, Norway, and New Zealand all tied for third with two wins. The Jury of Appeal chose Norway and New Zealand to advance to the semi-finals, based on the results of the fleet racing, but the Dutch appealed, and it was successful, with the jury declaring that the Netherlands and New Zealand should have a one-race sail-off to decide. They did, and the Dutch team advanced.

The semi-finals were a series of best-of-five match races, with Germany and Denmark both winning their semis, 3-1. The final was a best-of-seven affair and it came down to the final race, with Danish helmsman Jesper Bank outracing Germany’s Jochen Schümann to win the gold medal. Norway defeated the Netherlands, 3-1, in the bronze medal races.