Erroneous voting the reason behind kiteboarding's selection
The International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) decision to drop windsurfing from the Olympics in favour of kiteboarding likely came about because some delegates didn't realise what they were voting for, Israel's sailing chief said on Friday.
The International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) decision to drop windsurfing from the Olympics in favour of kiteboarding likely came about because some delegates didn't realise what they were voting for, Israel's sailing chief said on Friday.
"The delegates were probably confused or didn't understand the motion fully because of language difficulties, or some may have been napping at the presentations and then cast their votes without realising the implications," Yehuda Maayan told Reuters.
Maayan's comments came as the Spanish Sailing Federation admitted it had voted in error.
"The RFEV (federation) made a mistake in the vote between kitesurf and windsurf as an Olympic sport for Rio 2016. Spain supported and supports keeping windsurf (RS:X) in the 2016 Olympic Games," the federation said in a statement on their website.
"Despite all this, at the last moment the Spanish representative in the ISAF Council voted in favour of kite, an error caused by the confusion in the voting system of which the federation president, Gerardo Pombo, takes full responsibility and for which he asks forgiveness from all the Spanish windsurfers."
Windsurfing is one of Israel's most successful Olympic sports, having yielded three out of its seven medals, including its only gold.