Officials

Running the Olympic Sailing Competition is by no means a simple task. 350 athletes from 60 nations will be competing on 250 boats and boards over six race course areas, and it requires a highly-skilled team to work in unison to ensure everything runs smoothly in all departments.

International Technical Officers

In a process which began in 2018, a team of International Technical Officers has been appointed by World Sailing to oversee the competition, working with the National Technical Officers and volunteers selected by Tokyo 2020.

In total, there will be 61 International Technical Officers from 31 nations.

This team is composed of four different elements:

• Technical Delegates
• Race Management Team
• International Jury
• Equipment Inspection Team

Technical Delegates oversee the International Officials and Sailing Competition to ensure everything is delivered effectively.

The Race Management Team is made up of International Race Officers and International Umpires. The Race Officers ensure all races are run fairly and within the rules of the competition, while the Umpires make live, on-the-water penalty decisions.

Sitting on the International Jury are the International Judges. They hold hearings and make off-the-water decisions after racing, applying penalties when necessary.

And the Equipment Inspectors are responsible for ensuring all equipment abides by the rules of the class and competition.

New for Tokyo 2020: Digital Officers

Tokyo 2020 is the first Olympics Games to appoint two Digital Officials, Anastazja Lewandowski (POL) and Chris Lindsay (IRL).

During live competition, the Digital Officers will support the Race Officers and Umpires, and will support the Jury after competition. They will have access to video adjudication, such as live video feed from OBS cameras, and electronic adjudication, such as live tracking.

Digital Officials will offer support with start line adjudication, course setup, fleet management (safety) and finish line adjudication.

The data and supporting evidence provided by Digital Officials will be hugely important when decisions are made both on and off the water.

Gender Equity

Sailing is striving for a 50/50 gender balance in all areas at the Olympic Games. At Tokyo 2020 there will be the highest number of female officials yet at 16, compared to 11 at Rio 2016, 10 at London 2012 and eight at Beijing 2008.