Windsurfer (Neil Pryde RS:X), Men

Dorian van Rijsselberge of the Netherlands dominated this class, by winning six of the 10 opening races, and entered the medal race with an insurmountable lead of 22 points. This was despite his not finishing the final opening series race, discarding his points, knowing he was well ahead overall, and not wishing to interfere with the race for the other medals. Britain’s Nick Dempsey won the silver medal, despite a lackluster start in the early races. He won two races near the end to move into medal contention and then placed second in the medal race to earn the silver medal. Going into the final contest, Germany’s Toni Wilhelm was third but placed only ninth in the final race and dropped off the podium, as Poland’s Przemysław Miarczyński placed fourth in the medal race to move up to the bronze medal. The defending World Champion, Julien Bontemps of France, placed fifth, after struggling in the early rounds.

This was scheduled to be the final Olympic windsurfer event, after the event started at the 1984 Olympic Games, as the ISAF had voted to replace it with kitesurfing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But that ruling was challenged, and reversed in November 2012, and windsurfing will remain on the Olympic Program for 2016.