The sport made its debut in 1900 and with the exception of 1904 it has appeared at every Olympic Games since then.

The sport's name was changed from 'Yachting' to 'Sailing' at the Sydney 2000 Games.  They won their first medal in Moscow in 1980, a silver in the Flying Dutchman discipline with the team of David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson.  Most recently Analise Murphy won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the Laser Radial.

The Irish Sailing Association or ‘Irish Sailing’ is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing, and the international organisation is the International Sailing Federation.

The aim of Irish Sailing is to develop, support and promote sailing, through the core values of Inspiration, Representation and Participation.  In 2018 they established a Sailing Centre of Excellence at Dun Laoghaire which serves as an administrative and training base for their high performance programme and supports Olympic sailing.

Olympic Sailing features a variety of craft, from dinghies and keelboats to windsurfing boards. The programme at Tokyo 2020 will include two events for both men and women, three for men only, two for women only and one for mixed crews.

Event Programme:

RS:X - Windsurfer (Men/Women)
Laser - One Person Dinghy (Men)
Laser Radial - One Person Dinghy (Women)
Finn - One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) (Men)
470 - Two Person Dinghy (Men/Women)
49er - Skiff (Men)
49er FX - Skiff (Women)
Nacra 17 Foiling - Mixed Multihull