London 2012 Olympics: windsurfer Nick Dempsey claims International Sailing Federation 'ruining' his sport I can't actually believe how many people are so passionate about it and emotional about it. I think there is going to be quite a backlash and they are certainly not going to lie down and give up. People will be working very hard to get the decision overturned. It has to try to get back in for the 2020 Games. I think without that windsurfing will fade away a little bit. It has to be in the Olympics for it to carry on as an everyday sport. It needs that main kind of media platform at the top to feed everything else. Dempsey's shock has been echoed by many, including Royal Yachting Association Olympic manager Stephen Park. He described the news as "astounding" via his Twitter account and, while conceding it is a "massive blow" for windsurfing, believes Britain will field a strong kiteboarding team in four years time. "The recent decision by the ISAF to remove windsurfing from the Olympic programme is clearly a massive blow for windsurfing, while equally a huge opportunity for kitesurfing," Park said. Having said that, I think windsurfing will continue as a sport, continue as an event and there are plenty of other events that have dropped out of the Olympic programme and indeed come back in. I would not go as far as to say it will be the death of windsurfing albeit that it may turn out in history to be the death of it as an Olympic event. But with each demise comes a new birth, the new birth of kitesurfing. It is a new challenge. There are certainly a lot of people taking part in that sport around the world and there is a lot of enthusiasm for embracing a new discipline. We have got a great programme in windsurfing and from a British perspective you could argue it is disappointing. But from an Olympic perspective, we'll relish the challenge of a new British event and I am sure that by 2016 we will be fielding competitive sailors in either the kiteboarding or windsurfing.