Alessandra Sensini

Franca Pilla , wife of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi , and Alessandra Sensini at the President's reception in 2000

Alessandra Sensini (born January 26, 1970 in Grosseto ) is a former Italian windsurfer . With four Olympic medals and four world championship titles, she is one of the most successful women windsurfers ever.

Career

Sensini competed in the Mistral class for juniors until 1988 and finished second at the Junior World Championships in 1988. Until 1992 the Lechner class was the decisive class in windsurfing. Sensini's greatest success during this period was seventh place at the 1992 Olympics .

From 1995 to 2004 Sensini started in the Mistral class for adults. At the 1996 Olympics she won the bronze medal behind Lee Lai Shan from Hong Kong and New Zealander Barbara Kendall . In 1997 Sensini won the European Championships and took second place at the World Championships. In 2000, Sensini won the world title in February and received the silver medal at the European Championships in May. In September, she won the Olympic Games in Sydney ahead of the German Amelie Lux and Barbara Kendall. In 2002 Sensini won the European Championships and took second place at the World Championships. In 2004 Sensini won the World Championships for the second time, and the Olympic Games were followed by bronze medals behind French Faustine Merret and Chinese Yin Jian .

After the end of the Mistral period, Alessandra Sensini started in the RS: X class and won the world title on this board in 2006. In 2008, she won her fourth world championship gold medal in January. At the 2008 Olympics , she received the silver medal behind Yin Jian. In 2010, Sensini won the world championship silver, two years later she received a bronze medal. At the end of her career, she finished ninth in the 2012 Olympic Games .

Web links

• Alessandra Sensini in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Success list on sailing.org (English)