Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Laser Radial

The Laser Radial was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre.^[2] Eleven races (last one a medal race) were scheduled. Only ten races were completed including the medal race due to lack of wind. 28 sailors, on 28 boats, from 28 nations competed.^[3] Ten boats qualified for the medal race.^[4][5]

Women's Laser Radial[1] at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Line drawing of the Laser Radial
Venue	Qingdao International Sailing Centre
Dates	First race: 12 August 2008 (2008-08-12) Last race: 19 August 2008 (2008-08-19)
Competitors	28 from 28 nations
Medalists
Anna Tunnicliffe  United States Gintarė Scheidt  Lithuania Xu Lijia  China
2012 →

Race schedule[1][6]

●

Practice race

●

Race on Yellow

●

Race on Green

●

Medal race on Yellow

Date	August
	7 Thu	8 Fri	9 Sat	10 Sun	11 Mon	12 Tue	13 Wed	14 Thu	15 Fri	16 Sat	17 Sun	18 Mon	19 Tue	20 Wed	21 Thu	22 Fri	23 Sat	24 Sun
Women's Laser Radial					●	2	1	No wind	1	1	1	3	●

Course areas and course configurations [7]

For the Laser Radial course areas A (Yellow) and C (Green) were used. The location (36°1'26"’N, 120°26'52"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Yellow course area and the location (36°2'44"N, 120°28'9"E) points to the center of the 0.75nm radius Green course area. The target time for the course was about 60 minutes for the races and 30 minutes for the medal race. The race management could choose from several course configurations.

• 
  Course Areas
• 
  70° Trapezoid Outer Course (O)
• 
  70° Trapezoid Inner Course (I)
• 
  Windward - Leeward Course (W)

Outer courses

• O1: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• O2: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• O3: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH

Inner courses

• I1: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• I2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• I3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH

Windward-Leeward courses

• W2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
• W3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
• W4: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH

Weather conditions

In the lead up to the Olympics many questioned the choice of Qingdao as a venue with very little predicted wind. During the races the wind was pretty light and quite unpredictable. Due to lack of wind (< 1.6 knots) one racing day had to be cancelled and the medal race needed to be postponed to the next day.^[8]

Final results[9][10]

Rank	Country	Helmsman	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Race 4		Race 5		Race 6		Race 7		Race 8		Race 9		Medalrace		Total	Total – discard
			Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.
	United States	Anna Tunnicliffe	4	4.0	5	5.0	6	6.0	5	5.0	6	6.0	3	3.0	15	15.0	2	2.0	2	2.0	2	4.0	52.0	37.0
	Lithuania	Gintarė Volungevičiūtė-Scheidt	3	3.0	13	13.0	8	8.0	1	1.0	1	1.0	4	4.0	21	21.0	6	6.0	4	4.0	1	2.0	63.0	42.0
	China	Xu Lijia	24	24.0	3	3.0	10	10.0	6	6.0	5	5.0	2	2.0	1	1.0	11	11.0	6	6.0	3	6.0	74.0	50.0
4	Australia	Sarah Blanck	6	6.0	11	11.0	7	7.0	19	19.0	4	4.0	12	12.0	8	8.0	1	1.0	5	5.0	4	8.0	81.0	62.0
5	France	Sarah Steyaert	11	11.0	1	1.0	21	21.0	3	3.0	BFD	29.0	1	1.0	3	3.0	10	10.0	11	11.0	8	16.0	106.0	77.0
6	Switzerland	Nathalie Brugger	13	13.0	6	6.0	12	12.0	12	12.0	22	22.0	10	10.0	10	10.0	8	8.0	9	9.0	5	10.0	112.0	90.0
7	New Zealand	Jo Aleh	22	22.0	4	4.0	2	2.0	2	2.0	2	2.0	14	14.0	14	14.0	14	14.0	20	20.0	9	18.0	112.0	90.0
8	Belgium	Evi Van Acker	1	1.0	10	10.0	16	16.0	10	10.0	12	12.0	6	6.0	12	12.0	4	4.0	18	18.0	10	20.0	109.0	91.0
9	Poland	Katarzyna Szotyńska	5	5.0	21	21.0	11	11.0	24	24.0	21	21.0	5	5.0	2	2.0	20	20.0	12	12.0	6	12.0	133.0	109.0
10	Great Britain	Penny Clark	2	2.0	22	22.0	1	1.0	22	22.0	3	3.0	17	17.0	18	18.0	23	23.0	13	13.0	7	14.0	135.0	112.0
11	Croatia	Mateja Petronijević	8	8.0	9	9.0	5	5.0	4	4.0	19	19.0	19	19.0	13	13.0	21	21.0	22	22.0	-	-	120.0	98.0
12	Argentina	Cecilia Carranza	15	15.0	8	8.0	9	9.0	20	20.0	8	8.0	15	15.0	6	6.0	DNC	29.0	23	23.0	-	-	133.0	104.0
13	Mexico	Tania Elías Calles	27	27.0	25	25.0	DNF	29.0	13	13.0	15	15.0	16	16.0	7	7.0	3	3.0	1	1.0	-	-	136.0	107.0
14	Sweden	Karin Söderström	19	19.0	19	19.0	4	4.0	25	25.0	9	9.0	18	18.0	OCS	29.0	5	5.0	8	8.0	-	-	136.0	107.0
15	Germany	Petra Niemann	20	20.0	20	20.0	19	19.0	8	8.0	BFD	29.0	7	7.0	4	4.0	17	17.0	14	14.0	-	-	138.0	109.0
16	Israel	Nufar Edelman	25	25.0	12	12.0	3	3.0	15	15.0	25	25.0	11	11.0	9	9.0	19	19.0	17	17.0	-	-	136.0	111.0
17	Canada	Lisa Ross	16	16.0	23	23.0	13	13.0	11	11.0	7	7.0	9	9.0	OCS	29.0	25	25.0	7	7.0	-	-	140.0	111.0
18	Greece	Efi Mantzaraki	14	14.0	18	18.0	14	14.0	18	18.0	16	16.0	8	8.0	5	5.0	22	22.0	24	24.0	-	-	139.0	115.0
19	Italy	Larissa Nevierov	17	17.0	15	15.0	22	22.0	9	9.0	11	11.0	13	13.0	16	16.0	24	24.0	21	21.0	-	-	148.0	124.0
20	Ireland	Ciara Peelo	23	23.0	17	17.0	15	15.0	7	7.0	13	13.0	24	24.0	25	25.0	18	18.0	10	10.0	-	-	152.0	127.0
21	Spain	Susana Romero	18	18.0	7	7.0	20	20.0	14	14.0	20	20.0	21	21.0	19	19.0	13	13.0	16	16.0	-	-	148.0	127.0
22	Finland	Tuula Tenkanen	10	10.0	16	16.0	25	25.0	21	21.0	17	17.0	20	20.0	20	20.0	9	9.0	15	15.0	-	-	153.0	128.0
23	Belarus	Tatiana Drozdovskaya	12	12.0	24	24.0	17	17.0	17	17.0	10	10.0	22	22.0	11	11.0	15	15.0	26	26.0	-	-	154.0	128.0
24	Paraguay	Florencia Cerutti	28	28.0	2	2.0	23	23.0	23	23.0	26	26.0	25	25.0	17	17.0	7	7.0	19	19.0	-	-	170.0	142.0
25	Singapore	Lo Man Yi	21	21.0	14	14.0	18	18.0	26	26.0	24	24.0	27	27.0	26	26.0	16	16.0	3	3.0	-	-	175.0	148.0
26	Peru	Paloma Schmidt	9	9.0	26	26.0	27	27.0	28	28.0	14	14.0	26	26.0	22	22.0	12	12.0	27	27.0	-	-	191.0	163.0
27	Russia	Anastasiya Chernova	7	7.0	28	28.0	26	26.0	16	16.0	18	18.0	23	23.0	24	24.0	26	26.0	28	28.0	-	-	196.0	168.0
28	Norway	Cathrine Gjerpen	26	26.0	27	27.0	24	24.0	27	27.0	23	23.0	28	28.0	23	23.0	27	27.0	25	25.0	-	-	230.0	202.0

Legend:   – Qualified for next phase; BFD – Black flag disqualification; DNC – Did not come to the starting area; DNF – Did not finish; OCS – On the course side of the starting line; Discard is crossed out and does not count for the overall result.

Daily standings

Graph showing the daily standings in the Laser Radial during the 2008 Summer Olympics

Further reading

• "Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896 - 2008)". Digital Library Collection at la84.org. la84foundation. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
• "Beijing 2008". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.

References

1. Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games • Volume II Ceremonies and Competitions: Celebration of the Games (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
2. Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games • Volume I Bid Documents and Analysis: Passion behind the Bid (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
3. The 2008 Olympic scoring system was used.
4. For the medal race the top ten boats qualified. Each position scored double points. All medal races were sailed on course area Yellow in front of the Qingdao International Sailing Centre.
5. "Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics: One Person Dinghy (Laser Radial), Women". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
6. Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games • Volume III Preparation for the Games: New Beijing Great Olympics (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
7. "The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Sailing Competition: Sailing Instructions" (PDF). International Sailing Federation. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
8. "Qingdao Report - Luke Van Der Kamp" (PDF). Team GBR. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
9. Official Results book Part 3 (Sailing) (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2014.
10. "Sailing at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games: Women's One Person Dinghy". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2014.