More than half of Rio 2016 Olympic sailing places won at world championships
New Zealand, Great Britain and France win berths in each of the 10 Olympic classes as 138 of 274 places are decided in Santander, Spain
Great Britain's Gilles Scott celebrates winning the Finn world title, and a place at Rio 2016, in Santander (ISAF)
Sailing has delivered the largest bulk of Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers yet, as 138 places – more than half of the sport’s total for the event – were won at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain. As the regattas came to a close on Sunday, New Zealand, Great Britain and France finished as the top-performing nations, all claiming berths in each of the 10 Olympic classes. A total of 39 countries won places in Brazil.
Following in the footsteps of equestrian, shooting and basketball – which have confirmed their first Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification places in the last month – sailing is the latest sport to award places at the first edition of the Games to be held in South America.
Among the French qualifiers were Billy Besson and Marie Riou, who won the Nacra 17 class, which will make its Olympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games. “We did a lot of training during the winter, which made us stronger,” said Besson. “We worked very hard to reach this position. We are very happy, it was a good week for us. We made some mistakes, but we fought back to keep our position at the front.”
Britain’s Gilles Scott won the the Finn class, adding to his 2011 world title and his victory at the first Rio 2016 test event. “It’s an important event for me because after a couple of years of some general setbacks, I really had a great performance here, with all my team behind me,” said Scott. “This really makes me happy and all of this proves that we are working in the right way and we are making progress. I hope in Rio it is going to be even better.”
Charline Picon won the women's RS: X windsurf event to earn France at spot at the Rio 2016 Games (Foto: ISAF)
The Rio 2016 qualification places will be allocated to the winning sailors' National Olympic Committees, who will decide with each country’s National Federation whether they will take up the places allocated and which athletes to send to the Games.
Brazil, which as host nation has a place guaraneteed in each of the 10 classes, still enjoyed victory in Spain through Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, who won the 49erFX event.
The other 36 nations that won Rio 2016 places were: Denmark (7), the Netherlands (7), Italy (7), Australia (6), Spain (5), the USA (5), Russia (5), Sweden (5), Austria (4), China (4), Croatia (4), Finland (4), Norway (4), Germany (3), Ireland (3), Japan (3), Poland (3), Portugal (2), Lithuania (2), Israel (2), Argentina (2), Cyprus (2), Belgium (2), Canada (2), Slovenia (2), Greece (2), Switzerland (2), Belarus, Estonia, Guatemala, Hungary, the Virgin Islands, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Singapore and Tunisia.
In total, 274 boats will compete in Guanabara Bay at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In addition to the 138 that qualified in Santander, a further 47 will win their places at the 2015 world championships and 75 at continental qualifiers held in 2015 and 2016. Brazil will be allocated 10 places and the remaining four spots will be by invitation by the International Sailing Federation.
See below for which nations won places in each class:
RS:X men’s: Germany, Argentina, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Netherlands, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Russia.
RS:X women’s: China, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Russia.
Laser: Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, USA, Finland, France, Great Britain, Guatemala, Netherlands, Virgin Islands, Ireland, Italy, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Tunísia.
Laser radial: Belgium, Belarus, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, USA, Finland, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Singapore, Sweden.
Finn: Australia, Croatia, Denmark, Slovenia, USA, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden.
470 men’s: Australia, Austria, Croatia, Spain, USA, France, Great Britain, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland.
470 women’s: Austria, China, Slovenia, USA, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, Russia.
49er: Australia, Austria, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal.
49erFX: Germany, Australia, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden.
Nacra 17: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland.
Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.
