The Boat 

The 470 Men Olympic Class - Men's Two Person Dinghy

Created in France in the 1960s by André Cornu, the 470 (Four-Seventy) is a small, fast, double-handed monohull planing dinghy, its name deriving from its length. It is a highly technical class, with the ability to ‘plane’ (skim the waves like a powerboat) in a high wind, making teamwork necessary to sail it well, as it has a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, and is designed to plane easily. It is sailed by two people and has three sails (mainsail, jib and spinnaker) as well as a trapeze, which allows the crew to lean out of the craft.

The 470's first appearance at Olympics was in 1976 in Montreal, Canada where it was a open class. The class was split into Men and Women specfic events from the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

470 - Stats

470 British Olympic Medals

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Top 3