Confirmation of national places has been received by the International Sailing Federation along with provisional entry lists detailing the athletes who will compete across the eleven events of the Olympic Sailing Competition. Entries range from multiple medallists looking to expand their entry in Olympic sailing history to new faces aiming to demonstrate their talent on the world's greatest sporting stage. Amongst the 62 nations Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates enter athletes to the sailing events of the Olympic Games for the first time.

In total 400 athletes will compete at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao including four of the gold medal winning teams from Athens who return to defend their titles. The British Women's Keelboat team also features two of the three crew who won the gold medal in 2004 whilst a further three gold medallists from Athens will compete in different events to those in which they triumphed four years ago. All the competing athletes will face a new challenge in Qingdao with the introduction of the new Medal Race format for all 11 events. Following an initial opening series held over five days of racing the top ten crews will progress to a final Medal Race where points scores are doubled and the 2008 Olympic Champions will be decided.

The confirmation of a place at the Olympic Games is the culmination of four years dedication to pursuing a sporting dream. Over 2500 sailors competed at ten qualification regattas across Europe, Oceania and North America to secure their nation a place at the Games before battling against their national rivals for selection to the team of their National Olympic Committee. Amongst the sailors who have realized the first part of their Olympic dream are 14 athletes who have received support through the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship Programme.

Please note the entry list is provisional. The final deadline for National Olympic Committees to summit entry forms is 23 July.

Full entry lists including links to ISAF Sailor Biogs - including biographical information results and World Rankings for each sailor - can be found on the ISAF Olympic Games microsite.