Kiteboarding selected for 2016 Olympics!

May 5, 2012

Author: John Bryja photo Toby Bromwich

Terrific news for kiteboarding! SBC Kiteboard has confirmed today that kiteboarding will be include in the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition.
The ISAF Council voted at their mid-year meeting in Spain, in a 19-17 vote that Kiteboarding will be the men's and women's board events.

ISAF hosted an evaluation event in March 21-25 and American Kiteboarder of the year Damien Leroy had this to say about the trial, "The impact that Kitesurfing made at the Olympic trials in Spain was unreal to say the least. It was a magical experience as we showed the whole sailing community along with the International Sailing Federation we had everything to offer. Kiteboarding was fast, exciting, Media friendly, youthful, we could run almost any course they could come up with. We had the full package! We had so many positives to offer as a sport. Unlike other boats we don’t have to ship our gear to the next regatta, We can load ours on a plane and fly there.  Making our sport cost effective and easy for many countries to get on board. We came up with courses that spectators will love but also challenging for true sailors."

ISAF President Göran Petersson said, "These announcements mark a new era for sailing and we welcome the new classes into the ISAF family. The equipment selections have fulfilled the criteria set out by the Evaluation Panel and we look forward to seeing the boats not only at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but the ISAF Sailing World Cup and ISAF Sailing World Championships.

"Kiteboarding has proven to us that it is ready to be included into the list of prestigious ISAF Events and it is a fantastic addition to the sailing programme for the 2016 Olympic Games."

This is really big news for Kiteboarding!

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