News EX-OPTIMISTS SHINE IN THE 2004 OLYMPICS

EX-OPTIMISTS SHINE IN THE 2004 OLYMPICS

74%of the skippers of the medal winning boats at the 2004 Olympics were former Optimist sailors.

And 80% of these had sailed in IODA World or continental championships.

This is more than double the percentage four years ago in Sydney.

Athens, Greece

74%of the skippers of the medal winning boats at the 2004 Olympics were former Optimist sailors.

And 80% of these had sailed in IODA World or continental championships.

This is more than double the percentage four years ago in Sydney. In the monohull dinghies all but three* of the skippers were ex-Optimist (two who started in the Cadet). This increase mostly reflects the increasing spread of the Optimist in the age group from which the medallists come. As older "pre-Optimist" sailors retire, their place is being taken by those who did have the opportunity to sail our little boat.

Statistics about the total number of Olympic boat-skippers have been harder to collect but it is known that at least 60% of them were ex-Optimists and almost 70% of these were former Optimist internationals.

The proportion is higher in the monohull dinghies, especially the double-handers, than in the Tornado or keelboats where the average age is notably more "pre-Optimist". Among these dinghies it is notable that while most Finn sailors did start in the Optimist relatively few had the chance to sail internationally before becoming too big for the boat! Ben Ainslie famously did, being 63kg at his final Worlds, but sailed anyway! In the Laser the percentage of ex-Optimists was reduced by the wild-card sailors, only one of whom had sailed Optimists.

Almost all the medallists were in their second or third Olympics. It is therefore promising that there were several young first-timers who achieved good results, most notably Shen Xiaoying (CHN), Victoria Kraviotis (GRE), Sven Coster (NED) and Nico Delle Karth (AUT), all of course former Optimist sailors.

See a detailed analysis of 2004 (PDF)

For a different perspective - what happens to Optimist sailors when they graduate from the Class - see www.optiworld.org/lowdropout.pdf