Star set to exit 2012 Olympics?

by Richard Gladwell on 8 Nov 2007
Sail-World's sources are reporting that the Star looks set to be dropped from the Olympic line-up for 2012.

After today's meeting of the Events Committee, a two page scenario was passed.

On the first page - with the events being voted for on the current balance - with six for men and four for women (dropping one event to reduce from 11 to 10 as required by the IOC), the Mens keelboat event was dropped completely.

On the second page - for a gender equal slate - of five mens events and five womens events, the multihull joined the Keelboat outside the door of the Class of 2012.

The meeting opened with a vote being taken on the womens keelboat - with either the fleet or match racing option being determined. The committee opted for match racing - a decision which set the scene for the dropping of mens fleet racing.

The five events for the Womens gender equal slate were the windsurfer, singlehander, double hander, double handed high performance skiff and matchracing keelboat. If the ISAF stay with the six and four card for 2012, then the committee recommended that the womens keelboat matchracing event be dropped.

Turning to the Mens events, the first page (6/4) had the mens fleet racing rubbed out of the current lineup, partially on the basis that the women had decided against fleet racing - so why should the men not have the same symmetry?

On the second page, one further event had to be eliminated, and this time it was the multihull which fell from favour - with the Class of 2012 consisting of the Mens and Womens Windsurfer; Mens and Womens singlehander; Mens and Womens Doublehander; Mens Heavyweight Singlehander; Mens and Womens High Performance Doublehander; and Womens Matchracing for a gender equal card of five Mens and five Womens events.


Or back on the first page, the lineup recommended by the Events Committee to the ISAF Council is: Mens and Womens Windsurfer; Mens and Womens singlehander; Mens and Womens Doublehander; Open Heavyweight Singlehander; Open and Womens High Performance Doublehander; and Open Multihull. Although the latter is an Open event, in reality there are four womens only events with the remainder being classified as Open or Mens. A composite crew finished second in the 2008 Tornado Worlds, and female skippers have competed in 49er world championships.

It is not known how the ISAF Council will move. They have a reputation for being somewhat independent of their Committee's recommendations. The two key initial decisions will be to whether they stay with the six/four combination or make the bold move of a gender equal sport in terms of event numbers - which would have to spell the end of Open events the the options of composite crews.

Once that determination is made, it then falls to the ISAF Council to decide which events will make up the Olympic mix. They may follow the recommendation of the Events committee, or they may decide another direction. And of course, there will be some frantic lobbying in the halls of the conference venue in Estoril, Portugal

In November 2012, the classes, or equipment, for those events will be chosen, if the agreed process is followed.

The issue with the lineup proposed is that Doublehanded dinghy sailing is over represented, with four events, while keelboats in which the majority of worldwide sailing is conducted, do not have a single event in the 10 event card.

Also the Star class are represented by a very powerful lobby group, which have saved the class from a similar fate, three times previously.