Windsurfer (Mistral), Men

This was the second straight Olympics at which the windsurfers used the Mistral board. Austrian Christoph Sieber had finished fifth at the 1996 Olympics, but had few international results of note. He won three of the first five races, however, and led Argentine Carlos Espínola, silver medalist in this event in 1996, going into the final race. When Espínola finished 11th in race 10, Sieber had only to finish in the top 10 in the final race, which he did by sailing conservatively and placing seventh to clinch the gold medal.

Espínola won a second-consecutive silver. He would later switch to the Tornado class, somewhat unusual for a windsurfer, and won bronze medals in that class at the 2004-08 Olympics. Through 2012, Espínola is one of only nine sailors to win four or more Olympic medals. Defending champion Nikos Kaklamanakis finished in sixth place.