High and Dry

The sad saga of the top American windsurfer athlete Kimberly Birkenfeld continues. Kimberly was injured during the pre-Olympic training in Athens when her board was run over by the coach boat of New Zealand's team who was following his athletes before the start of a race. Kimberly suffered devastating injuries as a result of the collision, spent time in a coma and has been confined to a wheel chair since then. She is, yes, is, a superior athlete and she attributes her exemplary physical training to having been able to survive the accident. During her training for the Athens regatta she would sail her board between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, alone, most famously when she followed the fleet of Volvo 60's along that route during the last Volvo race.

We do not know all the details of what has transpired between the date of the collision and this date but what we can gather from the article published today in NZ Herald is that Kimberly brought a law suit against the coach and ISAF. What we do not understand is why Kimberly, who was the top US athlete at the time and a part of US Sailing team slated for the Olympics is alone in the law suit, without a representation from an attorney.

We also would love to know why the ISAF, who was the organizer of competition, has been released from the law suit. Naturally, the "transparent" ISAF provides no guidance besides this little blurb tucked in ISAF's meeting minutes from February 2006:

"The Secretary General confirmed that the International Sailing Federation had been struck off as defendant and awarded compensation by the Court with a very limited amount in accordance with the relevant New Zealand law."

03/02/06