Sailing at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Overview

Continents

• Africa
• Asia
• Australian continent
• Europe
• Americas

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1956 Olympic Games.
Blue: Water
Gray: Never participated in OG
Dark Gray: Participated in earlier OG
Green: Country participated for the first time
Dark Blue: Country participated also on previous games
Red: Country boycotted the sailing event of the OG

Argentina (ARG)  Australia (AUS)  Austria (AUT)  Bahamas (BAH)  Belgium (BEL)  Bermuda (BER)  Burma (BIR)  Brazil (BRA)  Canada (CAN)  Cuba (CUB)  Denmark (DEN)  Fiji (FIJ)  Finland (FIN)  France (FRA)  Great Britain (GBR)  United Team of Germany (EUA)  Greece (GRE)  Ireland (IRL)  Italy (ITA)  Norway (NOR)  New Zealand (NZL)  Portugal (POR)  South Africa (RSA)  Singapore (SIN)  Sweden (SWE)  Thailand (THA)  Soviet Union (URS)  United States (USA)

Classes (equipment)

The 1956 Olympic classes
Class	Type	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
Finn	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1952	2
12m2 Sharpie	Dinghy		2	0	+	+	–	1956	1
Star	Keelboat		2	0	+	+	–	1932	5
Dragon	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	1948	3
5.5 Metre	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	1952	2
Legend: = Male, = Female, = Open

Olympic boycott

1956 was the first time in history that several countries decided to boycott the Olympics. The boycott that influenced the sailing the most was probably that of The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. They withdrew to protest against the Soviet Union invasion of Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Soviet presence at the Games. At that time The Netherlands dominated at the International competition in the 12m² Sharpie.

Sailing

• This Olympic sailing event was gender independent, but turned out to be a Men only event. This was one of the triggers to create gender specific events. This however had to wait until 1988.
• Classes were hosted by several local yacht clubs:
  • Sandringham Yacht Club: Finn
  • Elwood Sailing Club: 12m² Sharpie
  • Royal St. Kilda Yacht Club: Star
  • Royal Brighton Yacht Club: Dragon
  • Royal Yacht Club of Victoria: 5.5 Metre
• The Royal St. Kilda Yacht Club was also the Sailing Headquarters
• Thirty-five Finn boats were built by a Melbourne firm of yacht builders. Other than in Helsinki, they were cold moulded shells of Queensland maple veneer. The mast and boom were of sitka spruce.
• The weather, throughout the series, was fine, with moderate sea breezes and pleasant sunshine. Except on 29 November ^th when the races in the Finn were postponed, several 12m² Meter Sharpies capzised, only 5 out of 13 Sharpies could finish and the 5.5 Metre's of the Soviet Union and South Africa were dismasted.
• The courses were set by the Royal Australian Navy. The vessels: H.M.A.S. Warramunga, H.M.A.S. Swan and H.M.A.S. Sprightly acted as starting vessels.

Sailors

During the sailing regattas at the 1956 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

•  Denmark (DEN), Paul Elvstrøm in the Finn won his third consecutive Gold medal
•  Canada (CAN), Bruce Kirby in the Finn, yacht designer of the Olympic Laser.
•  New Zealand (NZL), Peter Mander won the first New Zealand Olympic gold medal in the 12m² Sharpie, became later president of the New Zealand Yachting Federation.
•  Great Britain (GBR), Graham Hargrave Mann helmed the dragon Bluebottle the wedding gift to Her Majesty the Queen.
•  Australia (AUS), Jock Sturrock in the 5.5 Metres, won Australia's first medal in Olympic sailing. Later skipper of "Gretel" and "Dame Pattie", the first two Australian challengers for the America's Cup.
•  Thailand (THA), Prince of Thailand, Prinz Bhanubanda Bira in the Star