Barbara Kendall will go to her fifth Olympics this year. She's 40 and it's incredible that she's still competing, let alone winning, when most of her competitors are in their 20s. It's a harsh environment, and a gruelling physical challenge. Her years of experience in racing, tactics, knowledge about wind and tide conditions, equipment and board handling skills play a big part in her success. But the most important factor of all, is her desire to win. Managing the psychology of winning has been the most challenging aspect of staying at the top. Barbara won Gold at the Barcelona Olympics, Silver at Atlanta and Bronze at Sydney. She'll be hoping to add to the medal tally at Beijing. A campaign for an Olympic Games takes Barbara at least three years. She keeps her fitness up by running, swimming, yoga, working out at the gym and windsurfing every day she can. She competes in numerous windsurfing events to keep her world ranking up as well as maintaining a media presence for her sponsors. She now has two young children to care for as well. Barbara travels around the country to give motivational speaking presentations to earn a living, works for her sponsors, or heads back overseas to meet with the Athlete's Commission of the International Olympic Committee for a few days. This is the inspiring story of how Barbara, a golden girl New Zealanders love, got to the top and how she manages to stay there.

Paperback
01-05-2009
Random House New Zealand Ltd
9781869790431
234 x 153 mm