Sailing at the 1996 Summer Paralympics consisted of one event, which was open to any gender and sailed in the Sonar keelboats.[1] This was the first time sailing has been included in the paralympics where the sport was a demonstration sport along with wheelchair rugby, and not an official part of the 14 core sports on the Paralympic program, but medals were awarded. Sailing in the 1996 Summer Olympics[2] was held in Savannah but Paralympic event did not use those facilities, instead holding the event on Lake Lanier based around the Aqualand Marina.[3] The distance between Savannah and Atlanta was probably the motivation for this as it was important to showcase the sport.
