Sailing at the Rio 2016 Olympics: All you need to know

How does it work?

There are six different types of boat across the 10 events. Competitors sail against each other in an initial opening series of 10 or 12 races, accruing points after each race equivalent to where they finish (eg. one point for coming first).

Crews then discard their worst race score, and the 10 boats with the lowest totals progress to the medal race, in which double points are awarded and added to the overall scores.

Anything new for Rio 2016?

Two of the 10 events have changed since the London Olympics: the women's 49erFX and mixed-gender Nacra 17 replace the women's match racing and men's Star.

British prospects

There are realistic medal chances in as many as eight events. Giles Scott has stepped out of the shadow of Sir Ben Ainslie to tremendous effect, winning a fourth world title in the Finn class this year, and losing just once since April 2013.

Two other Britons became world champions this year: Nick Thompson in the Laser and Alison Young in the Laser Radial.

Who are the favourites?

Two crews have won all four World Championship titles in this Olympic cycle: New Zealand pair Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who have not lost in the 49er class since taking silver at the 2012 Olympics, and Billy Besson and Marie Riou of France in the new high-speed Nacra 17 event.

I didn't know that

A taskforce removed 25.4 tonnes of floating rubbish from Guanabara Bay's waters during last year's Olympic sailing test event - that's the equivalent weight of 1,600 UK house bricks each day (3.2t).

Previous British medallists

Total: Fifty four (25 gold, 18 silver, 11 bronze)

Most recent gold

2012 - Ben Ainslie (Finn)

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