Paris 2024 Olympics sailing review: Change of the guard as Dutch dominates wind and water

Billed as the fastest Olympic sport, kiteboarding made a big splash, with fans fascinated by foiling boards ‘flying’ above the water, and dramatic high-speed wipeouts.

Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the gold medal at the end of the ILCA 6 women’s dinghy class final race during the 2024 Summer Olympics. | Photo Credit: AP

While the wind, or often a lack of it, proved challenging for Olympic sailors, officials and broadcasters, tight racing saw a changing of the guard for sailing as it fully embraced foiling. The Netherlands topped the board with two golds and two bronze, followed by Italy and Austria with two golds each, leaving Britain, the team to beat, with just gold and bronze.

Dinghy demon Marit Bouwmeester helped the Dutch to dominate and in doing so became Olympic sailing’s most successful woman.

Meanwhile, the sport’s governing body highlighted success among smaller countries, with Peru taking men’s dinghy bronze. “We know what we’re doing with the Emerging Nations Programme is working, so it’s about enhancing that,” World Sailing CEO David Graham told Reuters. Other smaller sailing nations also shone, with Israel taking windsurfing gold and silver, Cyprus men’s dinghy silver and Slovenia men’s kiteboarding silver.

Billed as the fastest Olympic sport, kiteboarding made a big splash, with fans fascinated by foiling boards ‘flying’ above the water, and dramatic high-speed wipeouts. Their pace also prompted a change in how races are run, with jurors using drones to keep a close eye on a new generation of larger-than-life personalities.

Although Los Angeles will have the same 10 events, technological changes are likely to mean further evolution. World Sailing was watching SailGP’s developments in officiating and broadcasting closely and “seeing what can transfer into Olympic sailing”, Graham said.

One area of contention in Marseille was the format for windsurfing, something Graham said World Sailing would review.

“We’ve got a format working party, and I’m sure the formats will be tweaked before Los Angeles,” he said, pointing to the differences between kiteboarding and windsurfing at this Games.

While spectators in Marseille were not on the scale seen in Paris, many were able to get a better understanding through graphics on TV, and Graham was upbeat about the future.

“Our Olympic class is buoyant and then there’s really exciting things happening with the equipment ... I’m optimistic about the sport and I think it’s in a good place,” he said.