The hosts won a medal in every class, the bar was raised and the battle of the classes began. Original YW archive features tell the story
The Olympics of 1984 in Long Beach, America certainly seemed to have a home advantage. The Americans came away with an outstanding result of three Golds and four Silvers which meant that every American sailor won a medal, breaking an Olympic record previously held by the Norwegians in 1920.
Not only was the standard of sailing raised but so too was the media coverage and security measures. A fleet of 100 coastguard vessels hovered around the Olympic courses just in case someone should stray and interfere with the racing. Furthermore, ABC Network covered every mark rounding as well as having a cameraman in the water to get even closer to the action.
Whilst the Americans gave it their all and succeeded. The battle of the classes began as the Olympic committee sought the ‘Olympic ideal’.
The numbers in the Flying Dutchman were down reflecting concern that the price for these boats was just too high. The Tornado, which was previously under threat of being removed, became the ideal Olympic boat due to them being simple, relatively cheap and virtually one design. The opposite reasons for their exit in 2008.
At home, Trapper Yachts were the talk of the town, at least that’s how their full page black and white ads portrayed them!
Yachting World has covered every Olympics since the first in 1896. As part of our build up to the 2012 Games we delve into our archives to take a look back at how Yachting World reported some of the key events in the history of the sailing Olympics.
Our exclusive mini series, only available online, draws on Yachting World’s extensive archive of original reports and makes compulsive reading.
Simply click on the links to download our pdf scans of the original YW features.
The hosts win a medal in every class and set a new Olympic record
Trapper Yachts are talk of the town…