Windsurfer (Neil Pryde RS:X), Women

The Mistral class had been the windsurfing board chosen for the 1996-2004 Olympics, but it was replaced in 2008 by the Neil Pryde RS:X class for both men and women. The RS:X has a daggerboard and is somewhat heavier than the previous Olympic class windsurfing boards. Neil Pryde is the head of a Hong Kong-based sports manufacturing company, named eponymically as NeilPryde, Ltd.

This event came down to the 2004 silver and bronze medalists, China’s Yin Jian and Italy’s Alessandra Sensini, who battled it out in the medal race. Sensini won the race, but when Yin came in third, she had the gold medal by a single point. This gave China its first ever Olympic sailing gold. Sensini had been favored, having won two of the three most recent World Championships. This was her fourth consecutive Olympic medal, having won gold in 2000 and bronze in 1996 and 2004. Sensini also became the first woman to win four medals in Olympic sailing.