Olympic matters This year the main issue facing the ISAF Council was the elimination of one Olympic Event, as the International Olympic Committee had ruled that the sport could only award 10 Medals, instead of the current 11, at the 2012 Games.
In respect of the Olympic Equipment selection, the RYA supported eight Events, as outlined in its submission 103-07, and in respect of the two in which the RYA was silent, RYA expressed preference to retain at least one of the Men’s “heavyweight” Events. Essentially, the RYA was seeking to broaden the appeal of the sport through the introduction of an appealing modern dinghy to attract more female sailors, while retaining the spread of Events to reflect the wider sport.
The RYA was influential in discussions and supported the Events Committee recommendation (the expert committee who recommends Events and Equipment to ISAF Council) which included the eight Events in the original RYA submission as well as the Multihull and Men’s One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy Event.
However, in a one-off ballot, ISAF Council voted to eliminate the Multihull and to change the Women’s keelboat from Fleet to Match Racing.
The RYA cast its votes as follows (RYA votes in CAPS):
Men (6 from 7 Events to be selected)
Women (4 from 6 Events to be selected)
WINDSURFER (selected)
WINDSURFER (selected)
ONE PERSON DINGHY (selected)
ONE PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON HIGH PERFORMANCE DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY HIGH PERFORMANCE
MULTIHULL
Multihull
Keelboat (selected)
Keelboat Match Racing (selected)
ONE PERSON DINGHY HEAVY (selected)
The RYA believes that the recommendations of the Events Committee would have moved the sport forwards, and enabled more nations and sailors to take part in Olympic sailing. RYA is disappointed by this decision by the ISAF Council.
Now the focus will move onto the decisions at next year’s ISAF Conference in November, which will determine the Equipment to be used in each of the Events at the 2012 Games.
