Windsurf · Foil era
2012
Dorian van Rijsselberghe wins Olympic gold twice
Van Rijsselberghe wins the RS:X at London 2012 and again at Rio 2016, the first to defend an Olympic windsurfing title.
2×gold
Olympic RS:X gold, London 2012 and Rio 2016
The Olympic RS:X regatta of 2012 was sailed from 31 July to 7 August at Weymouth and Portland in England. Dorian van Rijsselberghe of the Netherlands won so many of the opening races that he went into the final medal race with a lead no one could close. He won with 15 points, ahead of Nick Dempsey of Great Britain and Przemysław Miarczyński of Poland. Marina Alabau of Spain won the women’s event.
Four years later, at Rio de Janeiro from 8 to 14 August 2016, it happened again. Van Rijsselberghe and Dempsey had gold and silver secured before the medal race; Pierre Le Coq of France took bronze, and Charline Picon of France won the women’s gold.
With that, Van Rijsselberghe became the first sailor to successfully defend an Olympic windsurfing gold medal.