Barbara Kendall
Barbara Kendall achieved recognition by winning New Zealand’s only gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the first woman in New Zealand to do so for 40 years. She is a four time World Champion, Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medallist windsurfer.
She was racing P Class boats at the age of 12 and attained success in a variety of classes at a national level. At 16 she tried windsurfing as a serious sport and entered her first world Competition in Scotland in 1984.
20 years later she was still at the top of her sport after competing in her 4th Olympics at Athens in 2004.
Barbara won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, Spain; silver at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA and a Bronze at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She won her first World Championship title in Sweden in 1987 with wins in 1998, 1999 and 2002. She was the New Zealand national woman’s champion for more than 20 years.
Her achievements and dedication to her sport have been widely recognised receiving a young achievers award in 1990 and later the Commemorative Queens Medal, and MBE and the Yachts person of the year award in 1992 and 1998. She was also awarded the New Zealand Sports Woman of the year for 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2002.
Barbara most importantly became a mother in 2001 and continued to compete a year later proving mums can do anything by winning the world champs later in 2002.
In 2007 Barbara was inducted into the International Sailing Hall of Fame.
Barbara was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in South Africa in July 2011. A veteran of five Olympic Games, Kendall won gold in 1992, silver in 1996 and bronze in 2000. She was fifth in Athens in 2004 and sixth in Beijing in 2008 before retiring from competition in 2010.
Barbara’s natural warmth, vitality and enthusiasm have won the hearts of all New Zealanders and she has instant audience appeal, whether she is sharing Olympic anecdotes or secrets to her success. Her story is one of hard work, goal setting, discipline, motivation, determination and passion. It hasn’t been an easy road and a lot of her success has been achieved after extreme trauma and adversity.
Barbara is a tremendous role model for young and old alike.
Testimonials
Barbara's presentation was great. They loved it and she made them smile. After a whole day of technical presentations it was great to have a positive message delivered by an engaging and fun person.—Conferenz
Barbara is a relaxed humorous speaker who naturally captured the audience.—ASB Bank
Barbara fitted into our function just perfectly. The feedback we have received has been superb. Barbara was a thrill to work with. The audience loved her and really responded to her.—NZIM Southland Branch
Favourite quotes
To be good in your sport, to be the world's best, you have to do it full-time. You ask any athlete in the world.
More information
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