Rio 2016 - The Qualification Games - Part 1

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 19 May 2016 Antipodean selection shenanigans aside, the Qualification system for the Rio Olympics appears to be achieving goals set in the Olympic Commission report of 2010.

Around 64 countries are expected to be represented in Rio de Janeiro in August. That is a slight increase on Qingdao and Weymouth, but more importantly, a full regional qualification system is now in place – giving the so-called developing nations the opportunity to qualify.

The Olympic Commission Report was put in place to reshape the Olympic Sailing Regatta into one that was more aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s view of the sport.

The report’s conclusions were passed by the then International Sailing Federation after then President Goran Petersson asked the Council in the May 2010 meeting if “anyone disagreed with the conclusion of the report?”

No-one put up their hands.

To recap, the issues identified by the Olympic Commission Report were that Sailing was gender unequal; dominated by European countries; gave little real opportunity to developing sailing nations; had classes which were past their use-by date; was one of the highest on television coverage cost and lowest on viewership.

The sole highlight was that Sailing had one of the highest online media followings, and back in 2008/9 the IOC recognised that in future online media would have a substantially increased impact on its coverage of future Olympics.

As usual, most of the focus went on the subject of classes - and who would stay and who would go. The venerable Star class drew the short straw and made its third exit from the Olympics.

In came the Nacra 17 as a new class, and a new event – a Mixed (gender) Multihull.

The move caused a few raised eyebrows – but it has caught the eye of the International Olympic Commission, which gave a big tick to the concept of sports having gender mixed teams in the IOC Olympic Agenda 2020 – which provides a new strategic roadmap which sets out the IOC’s approach to future Olympics starting with Japan in 2020.

IOC ringing the changes
Key points of Agenda 2020 are the requirement for all sports to be gender equal regarding participation.

So the days of sailing being able to take a minimalist approach as a form of collateral damage control are over.

Assuming, and it is quite an assumption given what has happened over the past three weeks in the Antipodes, that Sailing stays at 380 permitted competitors, then that number will be split into 190 female sailors and 190 male sailors being allowed to compete.

Currently, the numbers are 217 male sailors and 163 female sailors. The event places with the exception of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 are all weighted in favour of the males.

Taking the line of least resistance, the way for Sailing to get its numbers right is to chop out the Finn class. That pulls 23 sailors off the male side of the equation – almost the required subtraction and addition of 27 sailors.

However, that move won’t do it for the IOC either.

The International Olympic Committee need to look after their #1 property – the Summer Olympics.

No longer will the IOC take the usual line that they will pick the Sports and then take their hands off the steering wheel and allow the Sports to choose the Events.

Now the IOC will take a far greater say in what Events are allowed in the Olympics.

For Sailing, that means a shake-up much deeper than just whether the Finn is first through the revolving door of Olympic Sailing. Most classes will be on the line and will have to justify their existence against some new criteria.

The locks that were put on the “core class” selections at the 2012 Annual Conference will have to come off, to get the required flexibility into the selection of Events so that an attractive slate can be presented to the IOC for approval.

The vexed issue of inclusion of Kiteboarding in the Olympic program will arise, and maybe whether that should be a production foiling Kiteboard or a standard board.

Will that inclusion at Olympic level be to the detriment of the Windsurfer – or should both be included and the second doublehander – the 470 retired?

Whether the number of Sailing events remains at ten is yet to be considered.

And the number of sailors in the Olympics remains the same is yet to be determined. It was 400 in Qingdao 2008 for 11 events and reduced to 380 in 2012 with ten events

Consequences of not taking Olympic spots
Against that backdrop, the rejection of four Qualified Places by Yachting Australia and Yachting New Zealand at the upcoming Rio Olympics appears to be shortsighted at best, and at worst could be construed as a confirmation of excess competitive capacity in the Olympic Sailing Regatta.

Add to those four places the nine allocated to their regional Federation, Oceania, which have not been taken up, and there is a total of 12 boat places or 18 sailor places that are not required by sailing authorities in the SW Pacific.

That is a clear signal to the International Olympic Committee assessors that there are excessive numbers in Sailing, and if they want to find places to make cuts to introduce new Events such as Surfing and Skateboarding, then Sailing has effectively volunteered 20 places - sufficient for a new Event to be viable.

Of course, the issue for the rest of Sailing is that they will carry any reduction in 2020 - not just the Antipodeans.

In Part 2, we will look at Qualification systems and the differences between the IOC Prescription, Sailing's treatment of the Qualification process, how different countries apply their policies - and what happens in other boat sports such as Rowing.

Ever wondered why media reporting Olympic Qualification by other sports can say the athlete who has just made the Qualifying standard 'can pack their bags for Rio', yet sailors have to wait until over a year later?

Find out why in Part 2.