Windsurf · Pro era & decline
1992
Women get their own Olympic windsurfing event
At Barcelona men and women race separately for the first time, on the Lechner A-390; Barbara Kendall of New Zealand wins the first women's gold.
7.3m²
Sail of the Lechner A-390, Olympic board at Barcelona 1992
The first two Olympic windsurfing regattas, in 1984 and 1988, had one event. At Barcelona, from 27 July to 2 August 1992, men and women raced separate events for the first time, from the city’s Olympic harbour.
The board was a slightly modified Lechner A-390: 3.9 metres long and 0.63 metres wide, with a 7.3 square metre sail. It was raced at the Games only that year.
Twenty-four women took part. Barbara Kendall of New Zealand won the first women’s Olympic windsurfing gold, ahead of Zhang Xiaodong of China and Dorien de Vries of the Netherlands. The men’s gold went to Franck David of France, ahead of Mike Gebhardt of the United States, who lost ground in the last race when a plastic bag caught on his board, and Lars Kleppich of Australia.