Boardsailing: Kendall aims at fifth Olympics

Barbara Kendall is part of the yachting squad for the 2008 Games in Beijing. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Three-time Olympic medallist Barbara Kendall said the urge to go sailing every time she sees water is driving her to try for her fifth Olympics.

The champion boardsailor yesterday announced her intention to campaign for the 2008 event in Beijing.

With a gold, silver and bronze already, the 38-year-old mother of two sees no reason why she cannot add to that tally in three years' time.

"It is my chosen career, it is my chosen profession, I am actually quite good at it. I might as well give it one more shot," she said.

"It won't be easy as I will be the oldest girl in the fleet ... but with smart training and good recovery I should be sweet. Just because you are 40, I'll be 41 at the next Olympics, doesn't mean you are down and out."

Kendall was one of nine sailors named in Yachting New Zealand's Olympic squad yesterday who will work towards selection, then medal contention, in the 2008 Games.

For Kendall the next Olympics will provide a different challenge after the International Sailing Federation's decision to replace the Mistral board with the shorter, wider Neil Pryde-designed RS:X.

Kendall said she had not tested the new board but had received positive feedback from others who had. She was not fazed by predictions that the new board would suit physically bigger competitors.

"It just means I'm going to have to bulk up a little bit, and you can go to the gym and do that," she said.

"When you look at the results of a regatta about two months ago in Europe, it's all the same girls."

Kendall plans to start training in March, shortly after attending the Winter Olympics in her role as a member of the International Olympic Committee Athletes Commission.

She intends to race in New Zealand over the late summer, before heading to Hawaii for training in May and June and then on to China for the pre-Olympic regatta and Italy for the world championships.

Yachting New Zealand's Olympic director, Rod Davis, said Kendall's decision to carry on did not entirely surprise him.

"I think it will be the biggest challenge of her life ... but if anyone can pull it off Barbara can."

Joining Kendall in the Olympic squad are Andrew Murdoch (Laser), Jo Aleh (Laser Radial), Daniel Slater (Finn), Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal and Ashley Holtum (Yngling), and Aaron McIntosh and Bruce Kendall (Tornado).

The introduction of the squad is a move by Yachting New Zealand to try to restore the sport to Olympic greatness after the 2004 Games where the team failed to win a medal.

Davis said the lack of an Olympic programme and the late selection of the New Zealand team were key reasons for the team's failure.

He said the aim of the squad was to focus on individuals who Yachting New Zealand's Olympic committee thought could win medals.

To be selected in the squad the sailors had to either have finished in the top 10 in this year's world championships or the top eight in this year's European championship. The only other way for inclusion was if Yachting New Zealand's Olympic committee and director agreed there were special circumstances to merit inclusion. To remain in the squad they must re-qualify each year.

"There are no guarantees. They can't get fat, dumb and happy on me. They have got to work," Davis said.

"We are really putting a lot of pressure on them to perform at the world championships."

OLYMPIC SQUAD

Andrew Murdoch (Laser), Jo Aleh (Laser Radial), Barbara Kendall (RS:X), Daniel Slater (Finn), Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal and Ashley Holtum (Yngling), Aaron McIntosh and Bruce Kendall (Tornado).