Ep 15 - Barbara Kendall

Barbara Kendall is the rainbow girl of New Zealand sailing, collecting the full range of Olympic medals during an illustrious career, and she's also the only Kiwi woman to win medals at three consecutive Olympics and only New Zealand female to go to five Olympic Games. On top of that, Barbara won 11 windsurfing world championships medals, four of them gold, and 25 national titles. For most of the past 15 years she’s been heavily involved with the International Olympic Committee, and more latterly has been a vice president of the International Surfing Federation, playing a key role in surfing’s inclusion onto the programme for the Olympic Games.

 

Barbara talks about what influence her brother Bruce had on her, the time she was told she would never windsurf again, how her success changed her life, how she managed to juggle being an elite athlete with motherhood and the moment she knew it was time to retire. She also delves into her work with the IOC as well as her experiences on Dancing With the Stars and Celebrity Treasure Island.