Benjamin Barger

Benjamin Oden Barger (born December 24, 1980) is an American former windsurfer, who specialized in the RS:X class.[1] He was a seven-time national champion in his sporting discipline, an unofficial alternate for two Olympic teams (2004 and 2012), and the country's top male windsurfer for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing a lowly twenty-sixth place.[2] Outside competitive sailing, Barger served for four years as both the board trustee and chairman of the ISAF Athletes' Commission (2009 to 2013).[3] A member of St. Petersburg Yacht Club and a current resident of Tampa, Florida, Barger trained most of his sporting career under the mentorship of two-time medalist Mike Gebhardt; however, the pair announced their split professionally, when Gebhardt came out of retirement for another shot at Olympic glory in 2007.[4]

Ben Barger
Personal information
Full nameBenjamin Oden Barger
Nationality United States
Born (1980-12-24) December 24, 1980
Greenville, Texas, United States
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Sailing career
Class(es)Sailboard
ClubSt. Petersburg Yacht Club
CoachMike Gebhardt (USA)
Aaron McIntosh (NZL)

Barger competed for the U.S. sailing squad in the inaugural men's RS:X class at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[5] Building up to his Olympic selection, he beat his former coach Gebhardt by eight points to lock the country's top RS:X spot at the U.S. Team Trials a year earlier in Long Beach, California.[6] Barger clearly struggled to catch a large fleet of windsurfers from behind under breezy conditions with marks lower than fifteenth place at the end of ten-race series, sitting him steadily in twenty-sixth overall with a net grade of 217.[2][7]

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ben Barger". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  2. "Barger has good day". Tampa Bay Times. August 19, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  3. "From Busan: Ben Barger On The Athletes' Commission". World Sailing. November 6, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  4. "From Fort de Soto to China". Tampa Bay Times. October 19, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  5. "US Team Ready For Qingdao". World Sailing. August 5, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  6. "West Coast Trials End With Cheers For The Winners, Tears For The Losers". World Sailing. October 15, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  7. "Beijing 2008: Men's RS:X Class". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on January 5, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
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