Windsurfing becomes an Olympic sport

The International Yacht Racing Union had set up a Board Sailing Committee in 1977 and given international status to the Windglider and Windsurfer classes in 1979. In 1980 it asked the International Olympic Committee to make boardsailing an Olympic event.

The IOC decided at its meeting in July 1980. Seventy-four members voted in favour, one abstained and none voted against. According to the IYRU’s secretary-general, no sport had ever gained Olympic status so quickly or with so strong a vote.

Windsurfing was the first of the new lifestyle sports to be admitted, barely ten years after mass production of the Windsurfer had begun, and its youthful image showed the IOC what such sports could bring to the Games. The federation then had until November 1980 to choose the equipment, and it chose the one-design Windglider. The first Olympic windsurfing regatta was sailed off Long Beach in 1984.