Olympic 'finals' proposal

But I'm sure that most bidding cities would be delighted if the Olympic consisted of nothing more than swimming, gymnastics and athletics - the big selling/ratings winning events, with a few more cheap sports for colour - not ones where you have to build specialised arena/venues.

Baseball/softball have been dropped for the London Olympics - and not been replaced with anything else.

But I don't. I think of it, as it has been up to now, as the pinnacle of my sport. The same thing we all do but taken to the Nth degree. I don't really care whether Joe Public wants to watch it on TV and I don't think these proposals would make much difference to that anyway. Joe Public will always prefer Beach Volleyball. 

I don't see the AC as the pinnacle of sailing, although it is the pinnacle of cheque-book sailing. The point about Olympic sailing is it is reasonably accessible to anyone with the talent; at least that is the case in the UK. You could not say that about the AC.

If the objective of Olympic sailing is to find the best sailors in the world, the new format seriously damages that. If the objective is to produce exciting TV, it is ridiculously unlikely to succeed without many other changes. The proposals are half-baked by either set of criteria.

Lasers seem pretty unaffected as grassroots class - possibly a special case. Europes initially had an strong upsurge in interest, then fell away, at least in part for the reasons you suggest. Finns and Tornados survive as a grassroots classes here and there. In general though, I agree it's not obvious why a class would want Olympic selection. Selection followed by deselection is the nightmare scenario for a class. Without the Olympics, the Europe would probably still be going nicely as a niche lightweight/youth/women's class, as it was before selection. Having been selected then dropped, the outlook is bleak, since all the grassroots sailors have long gone.

Bumble may lack some historical perspective - the Firefly was an Olympic boat in 1948 and is still going strong. The Dragon of course is now more popular than when it was an Olympic boat - as is the Int 5.5m. The 12 sq m Sharpie still has active fleets in Norfolk and Holland

The FD worlds still get a fair few boats, as does the Tempest (the ultimate heavyweight trapeze class) and even the Soling. And I am convinced that the Star would continue if  they ever find an acceptable substitute.

Apart from the Laser and the 470, none of the present boats were ever intended to be popular mass appeal boats.

It was Bob Fisher who said recently that sailing should not be shown live. Edited highlights are a much better way of presenting the sport.

There are other sports in which nothing much happens for long periods... cycle road racing, cricket for instance. They only become interesting because there is so much to commentate on outside the central event, and because the production team make much use of analysis, infill material (history of the event, the fruit cake they had for tea..), action replay etc. Doesn't seem to work for sailing.

Gordon