First hurdle taken: ISAF events committee confirms Trials for Kiteboarding in the Olympics !
An important step has been taken today for Kiteboarding being part of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016. The ISAF events committee confirmed on their mid-year meeting in St. Petersburg, that Kiteboarding will be evaluated alongside windsurfing for both men and women, with a decision to be taken in November 2012.
With a full-on battle between the dinghies and the keelboat lobby, the boards issue was only a secondary area of interest for the delegated from all over the world.
The event committees decision needs to be confirmed tomorrow by the ISAF council, and a format commission will then go on to answer the question of how kiteboarding and/or windsurfing could look like - either in individual events or in a combined new event format. The options would be:
- kiteboarding men and kiteboarding women
- windsurfing men and windsurfing women
- windsurfing men and kiteboarding women
- kiteboarding men and windsurfing women
- a team event of one kiteboarder and one windsurfer from each country for two gender separated nations medal
At the same time, the equipment for both kiteboarding and windsurfing will be evaluated.
Looks like another 1 1/2 interesting years ahead of us !
