Boardsailing: Kendall to test new boardsail before deciding

Barbara Kendall's participation in a fifth Olympic Games may well hinge on what she makes of the new boardsail to be used at Beijing in 2008.

Kendall, surprised and thrilled on Friday to become the first New Zealander named on the International Olympic Committee Athletes Commission, said a decision on competing at Beijing aged 40 would not come until later this year.

Crucial to the three-time medallist will be how she adapts to the Neil Pryde RS:X boardsail, which is replacing the Mistral board used at the last three Olympics.

The board, designed by Hong Kong-based New Zealander Neil Pryde, beat six other designs last year to win approval from the International Sailing Federation to succeed the Mistral.

Kendall won't have access to the new prototype until at least August, when testing is completed.

"So I have no idea what it's like or how it will suit me," Kendall said.

"Whether I continue competing is up in the air until I've seen this board and had a go on it.

"I might be way too small. It'll be the same set of skills but physically it might suit different people.

"If I get on it and decide I'm not big enough then I'll walk away."

She believed the International Sailing Federation had made the change to make windsurfing appeal to a wider audience.

Kendall has won Olympic gold (Barcelona 1992), silver (Atlanta 1996) and bronze (Sydney 2000) medals, and finished fifth at Athens last year after a campaign beset by bad luck.

She doubted her new role on the commission would impact on plans to continue competing at the highest level.

Australian Olympic swimming champion Susie O'Neill resigned from the post last week. Kendall automatically took the position because she received the second highest number of votes from athletes among the Oceania candidates at the Sydney Games.

She will hold the position until the Beijing Games.

She said she was looking forward to learning the ropes and expected ample travel.

One privilege will be to cast a vote on the 2012 Olympic host city race, with the winning bid out of London, Moscow, Paris, Madrid or New York announced on July 6.

She joins New Zealand's long-serving IOC member Tay Wilson with that right.

- NZPA