Kitesurfing for the Olympics?

Sport

Kitesurfing for the Olympics?

06-08-2010

Kitesurfing, wildly popular in Marbella, is set to become an Olympic event at the Rio Olympics in 2016

Great news for kitesurf fans in Marbella. The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) is launching a campaign to gain inclusion of Kiteboard Racing as an event on the Olympic Sailing program for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.

The IKA believes that kiteboarding can make a significant contribution to Olympic sailing and help to promote the sport. Kiteboarding can be found on every beach worldwide and is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people globally.

"Kiteboarding is visually exciting to watch and attractive for young people. It can be done all over the world and brings youth, action, colour and popularity back to Olympic Sailing." said Markus Schwendtner, Executive Secretary. "Kiteboarding fits the spirit of what the Olympics were created to achieve more than any other sailing class. In my opinion Kiteboarding is the future of Olympic Sailing"

The International Olympic Committee stated at the 2009 Olympic Congress in Copenhagen that the Olympic Movement must strive to reach out to youth around the world.

The campaign has already attracted support with backing from personalities such as Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson (GBR), double Olympic Medalist Michael Gebhardt (USA), 9x Kiteboarding World Champion Kristin Boese (GER), Neil Pryde (NZL) and many more.

According to the IKA, kiteboarding's media figures are strong with a media report taken in 2008 showing an average of 350 hours of TV coverage, 30 million readers of newspapers and magazines and over 35 million viewers of online media per major event.

For more information about the Olympic campaign check out the IKA Olympic micro site: olympia.internationalkiteboarding.org

By: Giles Brown

Comments

surffer 1 10-08-2010 14:32
Yes but in marbella is forbidden in summer season in every single beach . If the patrol cath you , 300€ must be paid ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
bad , bad , bad ¡¡¡
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