Sailing at the Olympics: Dates, venue, history, events and Team GB prospects

Everything you need to know about Sailing at the Olympics this summer.

Sailing once again features prominently in the Olympics with 330 competitors - 165 male and 165 female - taking part in 10 different events this summer, with 10 gold medals up for grabs at Marseille Marina.

Olympic Sailing Dates

When does Olympic Sailing take place in 2024?

The various sailing events at the Olympics in 2024 get under way on Sunday 28th July and conclude on Thursday 8th August.

Olympic Sailing Events

There have been some changes to the sailing events for these Olympics with the number of competitors in total reduced from 350 to 330, with an equal number of men and women participating across the 10 different events.

• Men's Windsurfing
• Men's Kite
• Men's Dinghy
• Men's Skiff
• Women's Windsurfing
• Women's Kite
• Women's Dinghy
• Women's Skiff
• Mixed Dinghy
• Mixed Multihull

Olympic Sailing venue

The sailing events in the 2024 Olympics all take place in the southern French coastal city of Marseille, some 660km away from Paris.

Marseille is internationally-renowned in hosting and organising boat-related events, and the port city and its Marina are therefore the ideal venue for the Olympic sailing competitions.

Specifically for the Games, Marseille's Roucas-Blanc Marina will be the point of departure for boats, with the area adapted and designed accordingly to be able to stage the various sailing events.

The planning programme included the development and adaptation of around 7,000 sqm of buildings near the marina, and the reorganisation of 17,000 sqm of outdoor space.

The basin itself has also been redeveloped, ensuring it meets the required standard and needs for it to be an outstanding competition venue.

When was Sailing introduced into the Olympics?

Sailing has always been an integral part of the Olympics and featured in the very first Games, in 1896 in Athens, Greece.

Apart from in the 1904 St Louis Games, sailing has been on the Olympic schedule ever since.

Team GB prospects

Seven men and seven women in a total sailing squad of 14 head to France to represent Great Britain in the Olympic sailing events in Marseille.

The sailors qualified in eight classes at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, while qualification in the men's Formula Kite and mixed 470 classes was achieved at later events.

It means Team GB will once again have a full team for the sailing events for the sixth consecutive Games.

Hopes are high that the British sailing team can pick up more medals in France this summer, following on from the five they won in 2020 in Tokyo, which was made up of three golds, one silver and one bronze.

Medallists from four years ago - Anna Burnet, John Gimson and Emma Wilson - all return to represent Team GB in 2024 and all three will be going for glory again in Marseille.

Most recent British Golds

Sir Ben Ainslie won Great Britain's only sailing gold medal at the London 2012 Games, when coming out victorious in the Finn event.

Then, four years later in Rio, Giles Scott also won gold for GB in the Finn discipline, on top of the gold medals won by Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark in the women's 470 class.

In the 2020 Tokyo Games, Britain won three golds in sailing, with Scott backing up his Rio triumph with another victory in the Finn, while Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell won gold in the men's 49er event and Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre claimed gold in the women's 470 event.

Total GB Medal Tally

Britain have won more medals than any other nation in sailing in the summer Olympic Games, picking up a total of 64.

That figure is made up of 31 gold medals, 21 silvers and 12 bronze medals.

Olympics Sailing favourites

Who are the favourites to win Sailing golds?

While there are no odds available yet on bet365 for the sailing events at Paris 2024, Britain have strong contenders in several disciplines.

All 14 members of Team GB's sailing squad will have their eye on winning a medal this summer but, after winning medals four years ago, Anna Burnet, John Gimson and Emma Wilson possibly have the most realistic chances of glory on the water again.

Other countries who traditionally do well at Sailing in the Olympics include USA, Norway, Australia, Denmark, Spain and hosts France, who will be determined to impress on the water at home.