This just in today ...
"First hurdle taken: ISAF events committee confirms Trials for Kiteboarding in the Olympics !
Thursday, 05 May 2011 15:30
An important step has been taken today for Kiteboarding being part of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016. The ISAF events committee confirmed on their mid-year meeting in St. Petersburg, that Kiteboarding will be evaluated alongside windsurfing for both men and women, with a decision to be taken in November 2012. "
More at:
http://www.internationalkiteboarding...ral&Itemid=140
and I came across an article in the NY Times from February on the same subject ...
"Olympic Sailing Looks to Go Extreme
By CHRIS MUSELER
Published: February 9, 2011
The world’s top Olympic sailors were in South Florida reading wind and waves aboard two-person dinghies, keelboats and windsurfers at the recent Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. The sailing lineup has not really been altered much in the last 20 years.
But that is about to change, and this regatta provided a sneak peek into the sport’s future.
While Olympic medalists were being towed to their courses, kiteboarders skimmed along at twice their speed attached to inflatable kites at the end of 80 feet of razor-thin lines.
A new Olympic slate of classes for 2016, proposed last fall by the International Sailing Federation, or I.S.A.F., has turned the traditional sailing fleet on its head in the hope of attracting young viewers and higher television ratings, creating a sort of X Games for sailing. If men’s and women’s kiteboarding is selected, it will replace windsurfing.
“The Olympics want to promote the most advanced levels of sailing,” said Mike Gebhardt, a two-time Olympic medalist in windsurfing who raced his kiteboard in Miami. “This is high speed, visibly athletic, there are crashes, and you can tell who’s winning. That’s what sells.”"
Continued at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/sports/10sailing.html
Michael "Gebi" Gebhardt about to land in Islamorada
.