Kevin Lobdell Burnham (December 21, 1956 – November 27, 2020) was an American two-time Olympic medalist in the sport of

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

. He won the silver medal in 1992 with

Morgan Reeser Morgan Irwin Reeser (born November 14, 1962) is a sailor from the United States, who competed in two Summer Olympics: 1992 and 1996. He won the silver medal in 1992 with Kevin Burnham in the Men's 470 class. He won the ICSA Coed Dinghy Nationa ...

in the

470 class The 470 (Four-Seventy) is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with a centreboard, Bermuda rig, and centre sheeting. Equipped with a spinnaker, trapeze and a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, it is designed to plane easily, and good teamwork is ...

. Having competed in Olympic Trials in 1992, 1996, and 2004, Burnham never gave up on his dream of winning a gold medal. In the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

he won the gold medal with

Paul Foerster Paul Jeffrey Foerster (born November 19, 1963, in Rangely, Colorado) is an American sailor. He received All-American honors three times from the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association sailing for the University of Texas at Austin and competed a ...

in the 470 class. Kevin was the oldest gold medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games in

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Burnham was an 11-time U.S. champion in various boats. He was a sailing coach for various international teams, and he was the Head International 420 Coach for LIMA, The Long Island Mid Atlantic Sailing Team, from September 2015 until March 2017. Burnham died on November 27, 2020, from complications of pulmonary disease. He was 63 years old.

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* * * * 1956 births 2020 deaths American male sailors (sport) Olympic gold medalists for the United States in sailing Olympic silver medalists for the United States in sailing Sailors at the 1992 Summer Olympics – 470 Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – 470 Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – 470 Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics US Sailor of the Year Deaths from lung disease People from Hollis, Queens Sportspeople from Queens, New York {{US-yachtracing-Olympic-medalist-stub