Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: September 4, 1920
Events: 10

Participants: 101 (100 men and 1 women) from 6 countries
Youngest Participant:  Frans Hin (14 years, 160 days)
Oldest Participant:  Johan Friele (53 years, 220 days)
Most Medals (Athlete): 96 athletes with 1 medal
Most Medals (Country): Norway (11 medals)

The 1920 yachting events were among the most unusual ever conducted in Olympic history. There were 13 events contested, although there were originally 16 events on the schedule. In addition, the 18-foot dinghy event was a 14th event that is usually listed as being held. But research by British Olympic historian Ian Buchanan indicates that with only one entrant, no event was actually held. It is really not certain if the gold medals were awarded to the British crew. Finally, scheduled to be contested were the 9 metre, 1907 rating class, and 8.5 metre, 1919 rating class, but there were no entrants for those two classes.

Only one of the 13 events had more than three boats entered, and only two had more than two boats. Six of the 13 events had only a single boat sailing, although the boats did sailover each day of the scheduled competition. Norway entered almost every event, having the only crew in five events. They thus dominated the sport, winning 7 gold medals and 11 medals overall.

The course for the yachting off Ostende consisted of two courses shaped approximately like equilateral triangles. There was a short triangle of 6 nautical miles (11.1 km.) and a long course of 12 nautical miles (22.2 km.). The courses varied for the races but are described below. All of the Olympic sailing events were conducted in a point-for-place format, 1 point for first place, 2 for second place, 3 for third place, etc., with the lowest total point score winning. The events were limited to two boats per nation in any event. Any ties for places were sailed off in a regatta held on 10 July.

The 1920 Olympics began the practice of holding the yachting events far from the main site. The 1920 yachting was held mostly at Ostende, on the Belgian coast, 100 kilometres from Antwerp. At the end of the 1920 Olympic yachting events, the various Royal Yacht Clubs of Belgium organized another series of races – the International Sailing Regatta. Not directly affiliated with the Olympic Games, it was effectively a series of exhibition races conducted by many of the Olympic yachtsmen. The schedule for this series of events can be found in the chapter entitled “Other Sports and Activities

Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece). With the exception of 1904 and the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1920 was open for a total of sixteen sailing classes (disciplines), but actually only fourteen Sailing events were contested, because of at the 8.5 metre and 9 metre classes there were no entrants. For each class three races were scheduled from 7 July 1920 to 10 July 1920 off the coast of Ostend at the North Sea.

• As a result of the First World War,  AUT,  GER,  HUN and  TUR were not invited.
• The agony athletes develop after finishing fourth at the Olympics must have started at the Olympic Sailing event of 1920. The Belgium 6 Metre team of Louis Depiere, Raymond Bauwens and Willy Valcke finished 4th and became the only sailing team at the 1920 Olympics that went home without a medal.
• In the Sailing regattas, Norway took 7 gold medals. This boost put them in the higher regions of the medal table. They still profit from this boost.

Venue

Royal Yacht Club of Belgium

Ostend offers a fair condition for sailing on the North Sea. However, there are tidal conditions the current is reasonable predictable. Local knowledge does not have too much influence of the races. The wind conditions are also good for sailing. However, in the case of the 1920 Summer Olympic regatta's the prevailing breeze did not show. Most races had to be sailed under light air conditions.

An unprecedented and unique Olympic situation happened with the races in the 12' Dinghy. When in the second race one of the marks was taken hostage by the tidal current and went drifting the race had to be nullified. Since the organizers did not have the time to resail the race and both teams were of Dutch origin the Belgian organization requested the Dutch Olympic Committee to resail the finals in The Netherlands. As a result, the first Olympic event held in the Netherlands was not in 1928 but already in 1920. As venue of this final the Buiten IJ in Amsterdam was chosen.

Course areas

Course area Ostend, Belgium

Course area 12' Dinghy, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Competition

Overview

A maximum of 2 boats per country per class was allowed.

Continents

● Europe

Map of Participating Sailing Continents at the 1920

Summer Olympics
● Green = Participating for the first time
● Blue = Participating
● Light Blue = Have previously participated

Countries

Belgium (BEL)	France (FRA)	Great Britain (GBR)
Norway (NOR)	Sweden (SWE)	Netherlands (NED)

Classes (equipment)

The Olympic Sailing event of 1920 was without any doubt the most strangest in history so far. With a program of no less than 16 classes and an entry list that consists of 7 out of 14 classes with just competitor and only one class with more than 3 yachts.

After World War I the International Sailing Authority had obvious no clue in what direction sailing had developed since 1912. The Nordic countries had developed the Skerry Cruiser classes and the International rule classes had adopted in 1919 a new edition of the rule which was not yet implemented in the countries. Therefore, the entries were open for the old, as well the new rule and two Skerry classes. Besides that, an advice from 1908 was followed by putting two one design classes on the program. By doing this the 1920 Olympics acted as a test laboratory from which the IYRU could draw conclusion for the further development of the sport. These lessons learned, not too many different classes and moving towards one design classes, did show during the next Olympic Sailing event and are still taken into account.

Race schedule

Date	July  Belgium				September  Netherlands
	7 Wed	8 Thu	9 Fri	10 Sat	3 Fri	4 Sat	5 Sun
Sailing (planning)	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Total gold medals				14
Sailing (actual)	1 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●	2
Total gold medals				13	1

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1920: 12' Dinghy	Netherlands (NED) Cornelis Hin Johan Hin Frans Hin	Netherlands (NED) Arnoud van der Biesen Petrus Beukers	No further competitors
1920: 18' Dinghy	Great Britain (GBR) Francis Richards Thomas Hedberg	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 6.5 Metre	Netherlands (NED) Joop Carp Berend Carp Petrus Wernink	France (FRA) Albert Weil Robert Monier Félix Picon	No further competitors
1920: 6 Metre 1907 rule	Belgium (BEL) Emile Cornellie Frédéric Bruynseels Florimond Cornellie	Norway (NOR) Einar Torgersen Leif Erichsen Andreas Knudsen	Norway (NOR) Henrik Agersborg Einar Berntsen Trygve Pedersen
1920: 6 Metre 1919 rule	Norway (NOR) Andreas Brecke Paal Kaasen Ingolf Rød	Belgium (BEL) Léon Huybrechts Charles van den Bussche John Klotz	No further competitors
1920: 7 Metre	Great Britain (GBR) Cyril Wright Robert Coleman William Maddison Dorothy Wright	Norway (NOR) Johann Faye Sten Abel Christian Dick Neils Neilsen	No further competitors
1920: 8 Metre 1907 rule	Norway (NOR) Carl Ringvold Thorleif Holbye Alf Jacobsen Kristoffer Olsen Tellef Wagle	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 8 Metre 1919 rule	Norway (NOR) Magnus Konow Thorleif Christoffersen Reidar Marthiniussen Ragnar Vik	Norway (NOR) Jens Salvesen Finn Schiander Lauritz Schmidt Nils Thomas Ralph Tschudi	Belgium (BEL) Albert Grisar Willy de l'Arbre Georges Hellebuyck Léopold Standaert Henri Weewauters
1920: 10 Metre 1907 rule	Norway (NOR) Erik Herseth Gunnar Jamvold Petter Jamvold Claus Juell Sigurd Holter Ingar Nielsen Ole Sørensen	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 10 Metre 1919 rule	Norway (NOR) Charles Arentz Otto Falkenberg Robert Giertsen Willy Gilbert Halfdan Schjött Trygve Schjøtt Arne Sejersted	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 12 Metre 1907 rule	Norway (NOR) Henrik Østervold Halvor Birkeland Rasmus Birkeland Lauritz Christiansen Hans Naess Halvor Mögster Jan Østervold Kristian Østervold Ole Østervold	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 12 Metre 1919 rule	Norway (NOR) Johan Friele Arthur Allers Martin Borthen Kaspar Hassel Erik Ørvig Olav Örvig Thor Ørvig Egill Reimers Christen Wiese	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 30m2 Skerry cruiser	Sweden (SWE) Gösta Lundqvist Gösta Bengtsson Rolf Steffenburg	No further competitors	No further competitors
1920: 40m2 Skerry cruiser	Sweden (SWE) Tore Holm Yngve Holm Axel Rydin Georg Tengwall	Sweden (SWE) Gustaf Svensson Percy Almstedt Erik Mellbin Ragnar Svensson	No further competitors

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway (NOR)	7	3	1	11
2	Netherlands (NED)	2	1	0	3
	Sweden (SWE)	2	1	0	3
4	Great Britain (GBR)	2	0	0	2
5	Belgium (BEL)	1	1	1	3
6	France (FRA)	0	1	0	1
Totals (6 nations)		14	7	2	23

1920 Olympic scoring system

For the Games in Belgium a so-called Point for Place system was used:

• 1st place: 1 point
• 2nd place: 2 points
• …
• DNF: points equal to the No. of started boats
• DNS: points equal to the No. of entered boats

In case of a tie

Mixed 12 foot (12' Dinghy)

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende; Buiten-IJ, Amsterdam
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: September 4, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race

Race schedule

Date	July  Belgium				September  Netherlands
	7 Wed	8 Thu	9 Fri	10 Sat	3 Fri	4 Sat	5 Sun
12' Dinghy (planning)	●	●	●	●
Total gold medals				1
12' Dinghy (actual)	1				2	Dutch national races
Total gold medals					1

Weather conditions

Date	Max temperature	Wind speed	Average wind direction
7 July 1920	Unknown
8 July 1920	Unknown
10 September 1920	18.8 °C (65.8 °F)	3.6 metres per second (7.0 kn) - 8.2 metres per second (15.9 kn)

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

Rank

Country

Helmsman

Crew

Boat

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

Total

Pos.

Pts.

Pos.

Pts.

Pos.

Pts.

Pos.

Pts.

Netherlands

Cornelis Hin (race 1) Frans Hin (race 2 & 3)

Johan Hin

Beatrijs III

2

2

CAN

0

1

1

1

1

4

Netherlands

Arnoud van der Biesen

Petrus Beukers

Boreas

1

1

CAN

0

1

1

DNF

3

6

Legend: DNF – Did not finish; CAN – Race cancelled;

Daily standings

Notes

• This was the first Olympic event ever, and the only Olympic sailing event that was held outside the organizing country
• During race No. II one of the marks was drifting the race was cancelled (Nullified). Since the organizers did not have the time to re-sail the race that week the two remaining races were rescheduled for September 3. Because both contenders were Dutch, the organizers requested the Dutch Olympic Committee to organize the race in Amsterdam Buiten Y
• Cornelis Hin helmed in race No. I and the cancelled race No. II, Frans Hin helmed the two races in Amsterdam

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

• 

  Cornelis Hin, helmed the two races in Ostend

• 

  Johan Hin, crewed all races

Mixed 18 foot (18' Dinghy)

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 7, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

Rank

Country

Helmsman

Crew

Boat

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

Total

Pos.

Pts.

Pos.

Pts.

Pos.

Pts.

Pos.

Pts.

Great Britain

Francis Richards

Thomas Hedberg

Brat

DNF

2

DNC

2

DNC

2

DNC

2

8

Legend: DNC – Did not come to the starting area; DNF – Did not finish;

Notes

• This was probably the least interesting race in the history of Olympic Sailing. Only one competitor showed up in one of the planned races and failed to finish

Mixed 6 metres

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 10, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

6 Metre International Rule 1907

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Race 4		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Belgium	Émile Cornellie	Frédéric Bruynseels Florimond Cornellie	Edelweiß	2	2	1	1	2	2	-	-	5
	Norway	Einar Torgersen	Leif Erichsen Andreas Knudsen	Marmi	DNF	4	2	2	1	1	-	-	7
	Norway	Henrik Agersborg	Einar Berntsen Trygve Pedersen	Stella	1	1	4	4	4	4	1	1	10
4	Belgium	Louis Depière	Raymond Bauwens Willy Valcke	Suzy	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	11

Legend: DNF – Did not finish;

Daily standings

6 Metre International Rule 1919

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Andreas Brecke	Paal Kaasen Ingolf Rød	Jo	1	1	1	1	2	2	4
	Belgium	Léon Huybrechts	Charles van den Bussche John Klotz	Tan-Fe-Pah	2	2	2	2	1	1	5

Daily standings

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.
• Two type of 6 Metre classes were used. Those measured under the International Rule 1907 and one under the International Rule 1919.

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics the following persons were competing:

Mixed 6.5 metres

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 8, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Netherlands	Joop Carp	Berend Carp Petrus Wernink	Oranje	CAN	0	1	1	1	1	2
	France	Albert Weil	Robert Monier Félix Picon	Rose Pompon	CAN	0	2	2	2	2	4

Legend: CAN – Race cancelled;

Daily standings

Notes

• The first race on July 7 was canceled/postponed on request of the Dutch team since the France yacht was not in time cleared by Belgium customs

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

• Joop Carp

Mixed 7 metres

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used.

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Great Britain	Cyril Wright	Robert Coleman William Maddison Dorothy Wright	Ancora	2	2	1	1	1	1	4
	Norway	Johan Faye	Sten Abel Christian Dick Niels Neilsen	Fornebo	1	1	2	2	2	2	5

Legend:
Gender: – male; – female;

Daily standings

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics the following persons were competing:

Mixed 8 metres

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results^[2]

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

8 Metre International Rule 1907

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Carl Ringvold	Thorleif Holbye Alf Jacobsen Kristoffer Olsen Tellef Wagle	Ierne	Sailed over	1	Sailed over	1	2

8 Metre International Rule 1919

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Magnus Konow	Thorleif Christoffersen Reidar Marthiniussen Ragnar Vik	Sildra	1	1	1	1	1	1	3
	Norway	Jens Salvesen	Finn Schiander Lauritz Schmidt Nils Thomas Ralph Tschudi	Lyn	2	2	2	2	2	2	6
	Belgium	Albert Grisar	Willy de l'Arbre Georges Hellebuyck Léopold Standaert Henri Weewauters	Antwerpia V	3	3	3	3	3	3	9

Daily standings

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.
• Two type of 8 Metre classes were used. Those measured under the International Rule 1907 and one under the International Rule 1919.

Mixed 10 metres

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

10 Metre International Rule 1907

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Erik Herseth	Sigurd Holter Gunnar Jamvold Petter Jamvold Claus Juell Ingar Nielsen Ole Sørensen	Eleda	Sailed over	1	Sailed over	1	2

10 Metre International Rule 1919

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Charles Arentz	Robert Giertsen Willy Gilbert Arne Sejersted Halfdan Schjøtt Trygve Schjøtt Otto Falkenberg	Mosk II	Sailed over	1	Sailed over	1	2

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.
• Two type of 10 Metre classes were used. Those measured under the International Rule 1907 and one under the International Rule 1919.

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics the following persons were competing:

Podium

Mixed 12 metres

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used. All competitors were male.

12 Metre International Rule 1907

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Henrik Østervold	Halvor Birkeland Rasmus Birkeland Lauritz Christiansen Hans Næss Halvor Møgster Jan Østervold Kristian Østervold Ole Østervold	Atlanta	Sailed over	1	Sailed over	1	2

12 Metre International Rule 1919

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Norway	Johan Friele	Arthur Allers Martin Borthen Kaspar Hassel Erik Ørvig Olaf Ørvig Thor Ørvig Egill Reimers Christen Wiese	Heira II	Sailed over	1	Sailed over	1	2

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.
• Two type of 12 Metre classes were used. Those measured under the International Rule 1907 and one under the International Rule 1919.

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics the following persons were competing:

Mixed 30 m²

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used.

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Sweden	Gösta Lundqvist	Gösta Bengtsson Rolf Steffenburg	Kullan	Sailover	1	Sailover	1	2

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.

Other information

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics the following persons were competing:

Mixed 40 m²

Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): , Oostende
Date Started: July 7, 1920
Date Finished: July 9, 1920
Format: Three races, with final places decided by total points. Point-for-place scoring for each race.

Race schedule

Final results^[2]

The 1920 Olympic scoring system was used.

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Crew	Boat	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Total
					Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	Sweden	Tore Holm	Yngve Holm Axel Rydin Georg Tengwall	Sif	1	1	2	1	1	1	4
	Sweden	Gustaf Svensson	Percy Almstedt Erik Mellbin Ragnar Svensson	Elsie	2	2	1	1	2	2	5

Notes

• Since the official documentation of the 1920 Summer Olympics was written in 1957 many facts did disappear in time.

Sailors