Olympics 2016 - No Stars to shine in Rio

by Sail-World.com on 8 Feb 2014 The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed on Thursday that the Star class will not be sailing in the Rio 2016 Olympics, according to a report from Brazilian media published today. The official recognition came with the release of the classification criteria for the Olympics, which closes any possibility of inclusion of new classes, as it would need a change to rules that are already in place.

The following is a translation from Portuguese from State run Estadao.com.br

The Star class is steeped in history, it has been sailed since the Los Angeles Olympic in 1932.

Over the years Brazil has done well in the Star, winning six Olympic medals: two gold, one silver and three bronzes. Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada were on the podium in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

The exclusion of the Star from the Olympic roster was decided by ISAF in 2011. In its place came the 49er class FX, in which Brazilian Martine Grael and Kunze Kahena were runners-up this year and currently lead the world rankings.

Since then, the presidency changed ISAF (the new leader Carlo Crochet (ITA) is in favour of maintaining the Star), and athletes have made public calls for the reinstatement of the class. In addition, there has been a Brazilian desire for the most successful class for the country to be sailed in the Rio Games, with support coming from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

But the decision of the IOC Executive Committee meeting in Sochi, Russia this week was to uphold the 2011 decision. So the Olympic classes for 2016 are: RS: X, Laser, Laser Radial, 470 Men and Women, 49er and 49er FX, the Finn and the newest boat the mixed class multihull the Nacra 17.

As the host nation Brazil has a guaranteed place in each class.

The World Championships in Santander (Spain), later this year, will provide qualifications for 138 country places for Rio. Another 47 will come from the World class championships in 2015 and the remaining 75 will be decided at Continental championships, a first in the Olympic sailing classification system. Each country can have only one boat per class.