Beijing 2008 - New Olympic Format

At the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition a new Olympic Format will be used for the first time. The Medal Race format was decided on by the ISAF Council at the 2005 ISAF Annual Conference in Singapore. For each event the sailing competition will consist of an opening series and a medal race. Eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening series races and one as a Medal Race.

Opening series races
During the opening series, competitors score points equivalent to the position in which they finished the race (i.e. first place scores one point, second place two points). There are a number of letter scores awarded for breaking the Racing Rules Of Sailing (such as crossing the line early etc) which usually incur a points score of the equivalent of a last-place finish +1 point. The series score of each boat is the total of their race scores, except after five races they shall discard their worst race score.

Medal Race for top ten
The top ten boats (i.e. the ten boats with the lowest series score) at the end of the opening series progress to the Medal Race (for the other boats the competition is over and the positions from 11 upwards are final). The Medal Race is sailed over a shorter course close in to the shore, with a race target time of approximately 30 minutes. Scores in the Medal Race are doubled (i.e. you score two points for first place, four points for second place etc) and any letter scores (for crossing the line early, kinetics etc) are calculated based on a fleet size of ten. The Medal Race is officiated by on-the-water umpires, with sailors required to make any protests during the race. For the top ten competitors, scores from the Medal Race are added to their score from the opening series to decide the final positions. Any ties in the overall score at the end of the Medal Race shall be broken in favour of the boat who recorded the better finish in the Medal Race.

Source: ISAF (www.sailing.org)

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