Olympic sailing: The new Olympic pictograms are here

At the 2020 Olympic Games, sailing will be depicted in the pictogram with a small boat, a sail, an athlete and an implied wave under the hull. The pictogram for the sport of wind and waves is one of 50 that designer Masaaki Hiromura and his team have created for a total of 33 Olympic sports, some of which are depicted several times and in different ways to reflect their diversity. The pictograms play an important role at the Olympics for participants, spectators and the media, as they create a quick recognition factor and are used for television broadcasts as well as for signage at the sports venues and for information about the sports competitions. They also adorn licensed Olympic products, souvenirs, posters, tickets and programmes.

They were created by the Japanese artist Masaaki Hiromura. Here is an overview of all sports...

Artist Masaaki Hiromura and his team developed and designed the stylised figures over a period of two years. It was important to them to emphasise the uniqueness and athleticism of the respective sports and disciplines. They also had the motto for Tokyo 2020 in mind: "Innovation through harmony". The artists drew additional inspiration from the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Pictograms were used for the first time back then. German sailing has fond memories of these games, as Willy Kuhweide won his legendary gold medal on a Finn dinghy around 55 years ago. Peter Ahrendt, Ulrich Mense and Wilfried Lorenz also won silver in the dragon - not a bad omen for the national sailing team, which also has big plans for 2020.

After completing the project, Japanese Hiromura said: "It is a real honour to have been involved in the design of the sports pictograms for Tokyo 2020. I have tried to express the beauty of the athletes with the pictograms while respecting the legacy that the pioneers of the Japanese design industry left us with their designs for the 1964 Tokyo Games. I hope the pictograms will inspire everyone and help generate enthusiasm for the various sports for Tokyo 2020."