Windsurfer (Lechner A-390), Women

Men had competed in a windsurfing event in 1984 while in 1988 it was supposed to be a mixed windsurfing event, although no women competed. In 1992 men’s and women’s windsurfing events were contested separately for the first time, but this would become the standard. In 1988 the Lechner Division II board had been chosen for windsurfing, but in 1992 it was the slightly modified Lechner A-390. The centreboard and mast track were moved further aft on the A-390.

By placing in the top three in all but one of the first six races, New Zealander Barbara Kendall had an easy time winning this gold medal. Kendall would finish on the podium in women’s windsurfing at three straight Olympics, winning silver in 1996 and a bronze in 2000. Her brother, Bruce Kendall, had won gold in men’s Olympic windsurfing at the 1988 Olympics. Barbara Kendall was recovering from a severe accident that occurred seven months prior to the Olympics when she was thrown from a power boat and the propellor cut a tendon and broke the scaphoid bone in her wrist. Silver medalist Zhang Xiadong of China won the first Olympic sailing medal for any Asian nation.