Qingdao showed that it was not the light air, fairy puff venue that it has been mis-labelled for the past four or more years. In fact, was probably one of the windiest Olympics so far.Tom Ashley won the Gold medal in the RS:X Mens windsurfing event, the first Gold Medal New Zealand has won since Barbara Kendall’s in 1992 in Barcelona. Ashley generally performs well in a breeze, as we saw in the 2008 Worlds at Takapuna where he looked to be well in his comfort zone, and his height is very advantageous. Frenchman Julien Bontemps finished one place behind Ashley to take silver, whilst Israel's Shahar Zubari edged out Nick Dempsey to win bronze.
Female Windsurfer Jian Yin won China's first ever Olympic gold medal in sailing. Alessandra Sensini from Italy won the Medal Race to take the silver medal, becoming the first female sailor to ever win four Olympic medals, whilst Great Britain's Bryony Shaw won bronze.