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]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Benjamin Oden Barger |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Born | December 24, 1980 Greenville, Texas, U.S. |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb) |
| Sailing career | |
| Class | Sailboard |
| Club | St. Petersburg Yacht Club |
| Coach | Mike 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
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "Barger has good day". Tampa Bay Times. August 19, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ^ "From Busan: Ben Barger On The Athletes' Commission". World Sailing. November 6, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ^ "From Fort de Soto to China". Tampa Bay Times. October 19, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ^ "US Team Ready For Qingdao". World Sailing. August 5, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ^ "West Coast Trials End With Cheers For The Winners, Tears For The Losers". World Sailing. October 15, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ^ "Beijing 2008: Men's RS:X Class". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on January 5, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
External links
edit- BenBarger.com, official website
- Ben Barger at World Sailing
- Ben Barger at NBC 2008 Olympics website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 20, 2012)
- Ben Barger at Olympedia
- Benjamin Barger at Olympics.com
- Benjamin Barger at Team USA (archive April 6, 2020)
