Mike Gebhardt
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Michael William Gebhardt |
| Nickname(s) | "Mike", "Gebi" |
| Born |
November 25, 1965 (age 51) Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
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Michael William "Gebi" Gebhardt (born November 25, 1965) is a former professional windsurfer from the United States, who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics, in the Olympic sailing discipline/event of windsurfing. He was born in Columbus, Ohio.
Starting in 1984, 17-year-old grom windsurfer "Gebi" finished 3rd in the 1984 L.A. Olympic Trials; where only the winner, Scott Steele earned the right to represent the US in the first ever Olympic Windsurfing medal Event, which was one of the classes of sailing craft competing for 1984 Summer Olympic medals. Gebhardt went on to become (Scott Steele- 1984 Olympic Silver medalist in windsufing/windglider event) training partner and was instrumental in supporting Scott's efforts to win the USA its first Olympic Windsurfing Medal. In Los Angeles, Stephan Van Den Berg of the Netherlands won the gold medal and Bruce Kendall of New Zealand won the bronze medal.
Michael then competed in the one time 1984 Olympic exhibition event, which ran alongside the first ever Olympic windsurfing medal event. He finished 5th in the Olympic Exhibition event which showcased windsurfing's other disciplines besides course racing; including slalom, long distance racing and longboard freestyle on the original windsurfer board.
In 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, in a very high wind regatta, Gebhardt survived the storm and claimed his first Olympic medal, a bronze medal.
In the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, he narrowly lost the gold medal by .4 of a point, ultimately winning his second Olympic nedal, a silver medal during his 3rd Olympics in on the Lechner Windsurf Board.
Gebhardt also competed in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics finishing 6th as well as his last Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia's 2000 Summer Olympics, where he finished 11th.
References
- "Mike Gebhardt". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.