Opening Date 04 May 1924 Closing Date 27 Jul 1924 Country of the host city France

Candidate cities Amsterdam (NED), Barcelona (ESP), Los Angeles (USA), Prague (CZE) and Rome (ITA)

Information

More rigorous organisation came to the Games. Amsterdam wanted to be host, but De Coubertin returned to Paris with the intention of putting the IOC's stamp on the Games, unlike in 1900 where the French added events unilaterally. Individual sport's international federations assumed responsibility for organising their competitions for the first time too.

There was split between Meulan on the Seine and Le Havre, as in 1900. And from Antwerp's plethora of classes, only three were used: 6- and 8-metres and Twelve-Voetsjol dinghy. The 1921 IOC conference in Lausanne urged the adoption of one-designs, but dinghy racing on the upper Seine was unsatisfactory. And with big disparities between the boats, the IOC's aim that "the sporting instrument should count for nothing" in the results was not met.

Still, Belgian Leon Huybrechts finally got a gold medal whilst Norway's August Ringvold won a second successive gold in the 8-metre class. 1924 was not a great regatta. Strong winds, interspersed with calms, saw to that at Le Havre. There the racing was organised in the format of qualifying round, semi finals and final. On the concluding day Sir Ernest Rooney had to race his 8-metre Emily shorthanded with only two of his four amateur hands.

The others were first thwarted by the cancellation of the steamer service from Trouville, where they were staying, and then by a puncture to the car they had chartered. The two eventually arrived five minutes after Emily crossed the start line but the race committee agreed that they could be put aboard, but Emily lost time in slowing down to let the launch catch her up. Emily took the silver. Some 19 countries contested the yachting, including Cuba, Argentina and South Africa.