The South Florida Bulls are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, a non-NCAA sanctioned sport which competes in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association within the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association. The current athletic director is Michael Kelly, who has held the job since 2018. The school colors are green and gold and the mascot is Rocky D. Bull.
The United States Sailing Association is the national governing body for sailing in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the US Sailing Team.
The Women's RS:X was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Eleven races were scheduled and completed. 27 sailors, on 27 boards, from 27 nations competed. Ten boards qualified for the medal race.
Nikola Girke is a Canadian sailor and a five-time Olympian. She is amongst only a few elite athletes who have made the transition from one sport to another and has achieved a top 10 in the world across three different sport disciplines. She finished 13th at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 470, then switched to RSX windsurfing and placed 17th at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she finished 10th in the RS:X. Girke was named to Canada's 2016 Olympic team to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as part of the Nacra 17 with Luke Ramsay. The duo placed 15th. Girke also competed in windsurfing at both the 2011 Pan American Games and the 2015 Pan American Games placing 4th and 6th respectively. Nikola holds a degree from UBC in Human Kinetics and is a Certified Executive and Emotional Intelligence coach.
Irina Emilova Konstantinova-Bontemps is a Bulgarian windsurfer, who specialized in Neil Pryde RS:X class. She represented Bulgaria in four editions of the Olympic Games, and has also placed outside the top ten in both Mistral and RS:X classes. In 2006, Konstantinova married French windsurfer, two-time world champion, and later 2008 Olympic silver medalist Julien Bontemps before she relocated to France, and trained for ASPTT Nantes. As of September 2013, Konstantinova is ranked no. 88 in the world for the sailboard class by the International Sailing Federation.
Angeliki "Gelly" Skarlatou is a Greek windsurfer, who specialized in Mistral and Neil Pryde RS:X classes. She represented Greece in four editions of the Olympic Games, and has earned numerous national and sporting titles, including gold medals at the Eurolymp Week, during her career. As of September 2013, she is ranked no. 40 in the world for the sailboard class by the International Sailing Federation.
Sigrid Rondelez is a Belgian windsurfer, who specialized in Mistral and Neil Pryde RS:X classes. She represented Belgium in three editions of the Olympic Games, and was a top eight finalist at the 2003 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cadiz, Spain. Before her sporting career ended in 2012, Rondelez trained for Side Shore Surfers Club in De Panne under her head coach, former Dutch windsurfer, and 2008 Olympian Casper Bouman.
Patrícia da Costa Freitas is an American-born Brazilian windsurfer, who specialized in Neil Pryde RS:X class. She represented Brazil in three editions of the Olympic Games and captured her first ever individual title in her sailing career at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Holding dual citizenship between Brazil and the United States, Freitas currently resides in Rio de Janeiro, where she sails and trains for the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club under her personal coach and mentor Lucas Souza. As of September 2013, Freitas is ranked as one of the top ten sailors in the world for the sailboard class by the International Sailing Federation, following her successes at the South American and World Championships in her home nation.
Charline Picon is a French windsurfer who specialized in the Neil Pryde RS:X class. She captured two bronze medals in her respective class at the Windsurfing World Championships, and an Olympic title at the 2016 Summer Olympics after attaining a top ten finish at the 2012 Summer Olympics. As of September 2014, Picon is ranked as one of the top ten sailors in the world for the sailboard class by the International Sailing Federation, following her successes at the European and World Championships and at the Sailing World Cup series.
Áron Gádorfalvi is a Hungarian windsurfer, who specializes in Mistral and Neil Pryde RS:X classes. He represented Hungary in all five editions of the Olympic Games since 1996, and has been training at Axon SE, Gradus SK, and Balatonfuredi Yacht Club in Balatonfured for most of his sporting career under personal coaches Lorand Utassy and László Ficsór. As of September 2013, Gádorfalvi is ranked no. 48 in the world for the sailboard class by the International Sailing Federation.
Martha Rae Watson is a retired American track and field athlete. She qualified for four Olympics, 1964–1976 in the long jump, but also was a fast enough sprinter to be on two United States 4 x 100 metres relay teams. She picked up the individual silver medal in the long jump and the gold in the 4 x 100 relay at the 1975 Pan American Games. She was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1987.
The United States competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places the team qualified were for three athletes in sailing events. They also qualified athletes in archery, goalball, shooting, swimming, and wheelchair basketball.
Demita Vega de Lille is a Mexican windsurfer, who specialized in Neil Pryde RS:X class. She represented her nation Mexico at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and later picked up a silver medal in windsurfing at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara. As of September 2014, Vega is ranked seventh in the world for the sailboard class by the International Sailing Federation, following her successes at the North American and ISAF World Championships.
Grace Luczak (Fattal) (born May 24, 1989 in Royal Oak, Michigan) is an American Olympic rower.
Charlie Buckingham is an American Olympic sailor. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's Laser class where he finished 11th. He also competed at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics in the men's Laser class.
Pedro Pascual is an American competitive sailor. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's RS:X, and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which the U.S. boycotted. The opening ceremony flag-bearers for the United States were baseball player Eddy Alvarez and basketball player Sue Bird. Javelin thrower Kara Winger was the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony. For the third consecutive time in the Summer Olympics, the United States was represented by more female than male athletes (285 men and 330 women).
Anastasija Zolotic is an American taekwondo athlete and Olympic gold medalist. She won the silver medal at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in the girls 49 kg weight class. She qualified to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. On Sunday 25 July 2021, at just 18-years-old, she became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in taekwondo, defeating Tatiana Minina of Russia 25 to 17. Her parents are immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina. She competed in the women's featherweight event at the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships held in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Emma Wilson is a British windsurfer who won a bronze medal in the RS:X event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She won the RS:X events at the Youth Sailing World Championships in 2016 and 2017, and won medals at the 2018 and 2019 RS:X European Championships, and the 2022 and 2023 IQFoil European Championships.
Nancy Damian Rios is an American former windsurfer, who specialized in the RS:X class. She finished fifth in her sporting discipline at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, and was eventually named the country's top female windsurfer for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing a lowly twenty-sixth place. A member of the sailing roster at Banana River Windsurfing Resort in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Rios trained under the tutelage of her personal coach Brandon Sebald.
United States 
