Windsurfing back in Olympics after U-turn by sailing federation
Isaf restores sport's Olympic status following a general assembly meeting, ditching kiteboarding as a medal sport for Rio 2016
The Hong Kong Open windsurf-ing competition ended on a jubilant note yesterday as sailors and officials celebrated the unexpected restoration of their discipline to the Olympic Games programme.
The general assembly of the International Sailing Federation (Isaf) voted late on Saturday at its annual conference in Dublin, Ireland, to overturn a decision made in May to ditch windsurfing in favour of kiteboarding for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
The dramatic about-face came after a vote on Friday by the Isaf's council - subordinate to the general assembly - appeared to have all but ended the chances of having windsurfing restored to the Olympic programme.
"This is a very complicated, technical matter," said Hong Kong windsurfing head coach Rene Appel, who welcomed the decision, saying it was taken in the best interests of sailing.
"The general assembly can review any regulation made or amended in any substantive way by the council and this is the case with windsurfing regarding its participation at the 2016 Olympic Games.
"I am happy we won the vote at the general assembly. Kiteboarding is an exciting sport but they need to prove themselves for the next four or five years and I think it's something they will embrace and look at in a positive way. It is a very unfortunate situation for kiteboarding, which in my opinion should have not happened."
There were 114 possible votes at the general assembly and after a lengthy debate among the members, both the men's and women's RSX windsurfing events were reinstated, winning the vote with 52 per cent. A decision at the general assembly requires only a simple majority.