Since 1896, the modern Olympic Games have brought together the “youth of the world” every four years to compete in sporting competitions and contribute to international understanding.
Ever since the Olympic Games have grown steadily in size. Almost all countries are now represented at the Olympic Games, even if the team sizes can vary greatly from country to country. Surfing is one of the newest sports to be included in the Olympics!
Surfing at the Olympic Games – Overview
Surfing at the Olympic Games – One of the youngest disciplines!
For many years famous surfer surfers have been campaigning for surfing to be included in the Olympic competition catalog. Duke Kahanamoku, three-time Olympic champion in freestyle swimming, already campaigned for surfing to become an Olympic sport over 100 years ago.
Surfing finally celebrated its premiere as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (2021).
The first Olympic champions in surfing were Carissa Moore from the USA and Italo Ferreira from Brasil.
So far the Surfers at the Olympic Games compete with shortboards. After the Olympics 2024 it will be evaluated whether longboard surfing will be added as another event to the Olympic Surfing Competetions. A decision about this is expected for december 2024. It is therefore possible that longboard surfers will be able to compete at the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
The Summer Olympics will take place in Paris in the summer of 2024.
However, the surf competitions won’t take place in the french capital, but 15 000 km far away in Teahupo’o in Tahiti in French-Polynesia.
According to the organizers of the competitions, this is actually the most sustainable venue in terms of travel, as the majority of the Olympic surfers will be coming from Oceania & North America. Tahiti is therefore closer and easier to reach for many than France.
The wave, that breaks in Teahupo’o, is one of the most famous waves of the worlds, but is also often described as one of the most difficult and most dangerous waves, because she breakes directly above a reef. At some parts the coral reef is just 50 centimeters below the water surface!
A total of 24 male and 24 female surfers will be competing for the coveted medal places in Teahupo’o. The surfing competitions in Tahiti will take place over a total of 4 days. Since surfing always depends on wave and weather conditions, there is a time window for the competitions from July 27 to August 8. During this time, the organizers will decide from day to day whether a competition day will be started or not.
Surfing at the Olympic Games – A danger for the reef?
The wave in Teahupo’o is no stranger to professional surfers and their fans. Competitions have already been held there regularly and the World Surf League (WSL) also makes a stop there on its Champion Ship Tour.
While the judges at previous competitions watched the wave rides from a wooden tower, this is no longer sufficient for the Olympic Games due to space and safety reasons. A new metal tower is to be built to accommodate around 40 people and the cameras for the television broadcast. Toilets and air conditioning are also to be installed in the multi-storey building.
There is opposition to the construction among the local population and also among many professional surfers, as it is feared that the construction work and the new foundations for the Olympic aluminum tower will cause irreparable damage to the coral reef. During a test run of the barge that was to be used for the construction work, these fears were confirmed: the ship, which was not loaded at the time, got stuck in shallow water and damaged the coral.
Construction work was briefly interrupted as a result, but the Olympic Committee is sticking to its plans for the new judges’ tower. The tower is now to be smaller than originally planned and made of lighter materials. Other planned construction work in Teahupo’o, such as the construction of a pedestrian bridge, a viewing platform, the renovation of hotels and the construction of an Olympic village were also halted.
The athletes, their coaches and the Olympic team will now be accommodated on a cruise ship during the competitions, which will be parked in the bay. In this way, the surfing competitions in Teahupo’o should have no further consequences.
Surfing at the Olympic Games – How do surfers qualify for the games?
Qualification for the Olympic Games is based on a quota system for the National Olympic Committees and placement in certain surfing competitions organized by the WSL and the International Surfing Association (ISA).
Quota places for the National Olympic Committees
The host country is therefore automatically allocated 2 quota places in the event that the surfers (in this case French surfers) do not qualify for the Olympic surfing competitions by participating in competitions. If the French surfers qualify regularly through the WSL or ISA surfing competitions, these quota places will be awarded to the next eligible surfers of the ISA World Surfing Games.
Each National Olympic Committee can qualify a maximum of 2 male and 2 female surfers for the Olympic Games. In certain cases, this number may increase to 3 per gender.
Placement in official competitions
The 10 best male and 8 best female surfers on the WSL Championship Tour are entitled to participate in the Olympic Games. However, if a country has already filled its 2 quota places, the next best ranked surfers from other countries whose quota places have not yet been filled will move up.
The best surfers from each continent (except America) at the ISA World Surfing Game 2023 will qualify for the Olympic Games.
At the 2023 Pan American Games, the top ranked male and female surfers received a place at the Olympic Games.
And finally, the 5 best male and 7 best female athletes at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games will qualify for the Olympic Games.
In addition, the team that came first at the ISA World Surfing Games 2024 was able to allocate a place to its respective National Olympic Committee. In this way, Brazil is entering the race for the Olympic medals this year with 3 male and 3 female surfers.
The International Olympic Committee is also awarding a wild card: all national committees interested in sending a male or female surfer to the Olympic Games can apply for this. A three-member commission of the IOC will ultimately decide who gets this spot. However, the prerequisite for receiving the wildcard is a place in the top 50 at the ISA World Surfing Games 20023 or 2024.
Surfing at the Olympic Games – How is it evaluated?
Surfing is another freestyle discipline at the Olympic Games alongside skateboarding: Points are awarded based on the variety, style and difficulty of the tricks performed. It’s all about speed, power and how seamlessly the surfers combine the tricks. However, wave size and power are also included in the evaluation.
There is no fixed evaluation catalog for surfing, as each wave ride is subjectively evaluated by 5 judges. Each wave surfed is rated by each judge with 1 to 10 points. Finally, an average score is calculated from all the scores. Surfers can take and surf as many waves as they like during the competition. However, only one surfer may surf each wave and the priority rules must be observed. At the end of a round, however, only the two best waves count towards the total score; each surfer can therefore achieve a maximum of 20 points per round.
Surfing at the Olympic Games – Are there even professional Surfers from Germany?
The German national surf team is coached by the German Surfing Association. The majority of the surfers on the German team live all over the world, but are trained and prepared for international competitions by the surfing association’s coaches.
The surfers on the German national shortboard team qualified for the Olympic Games at the ISA World Surfing Games in March 2024.
Camilla Kemp and Tim Elter will be competing for the German team at the Olympic Games in Paris. Camilla Kemp made history by qualifying for the Olympic surfing competition and will be the first German surfer to represent Germany at the Olympics. Tim Elter will represent Germany in the men’s competitions; in 2020, Leon Glatzer was the only German to make it to the Olympic surfing competitions in Tokyo.
We will definitely be following the competitions at the Olympics closely this year! And who knows, maybe Tim Elter will even bring an Olympic medal back to Fuerteventura!
“Surfing at the Olympic Games – being there is everything!”