After a year of delay, everyone is finally gearing up for the Tokyo Olympic games -- including
the athletes of some sports that have never been in the Olympics before. In 2021, several
sports will be making their debut in the games, including baseball, karate, sport climbing,
skateboarding, and surfing.
The decision to add surfing to the Olympics came in 2016. Surfing has been around for
hundreds of years, but it is only now that it will be included in the Olympics. However,
the suggestion of including the sport in the Games came way back in 1912 when Duke Kahanamoku,
a Hawaiian swimmer and the "Father of Modern Surfing," who suggested the sport for a future
Olympic games as he accepted his gold medal.
"We're gonna figure it out out there. Let's go surfing, come on."
For years, the International Surfing Association has been proposing for the sport of surfing
to be included in the Olympic Games. Back in 2016, a petition for the sport's inclusion
was posted on Facebook in order to gather supporters in hopes of the IOC heeding their
request.
Based on the IOC's guidelines, sports that are included in the Olympics must have athletes
hailing from at least four continents and 70 countries. Throughout the globe, there
are roughly 20 to 30 million surfers, making it one of the most popular water sports. Back
in 2016, surfing was almost included in the Rio Olympics. However, that time, it was only
rugby and golf that made it through as new events.
Finally, the sport will be debuting in the Tokyo Olympic Games. Explaining the decision,
Thomas Bach, the IOC president, said,
"We want to take sport to the youth... youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will
add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games."
For the upcoming games, surfers will be making use of a shortboard, but there is a possibility
of adding other formats in future Games.
"The maneuvers that you're gonna do on a shortboard are much quicker and snappier, whereas on
a longboard there's almost like a grace element and a style element that comes into play much
more."
Upon the announcement of surfing being included in the Tokyo Olympics, there was a debate
about whether athletes would compete in a wave pool or the ocean. Ultimately, the natural
environment won out.
The surfing event for the Tokyo Olympics will be held at Tsurigasaki Beach in Chiba Prefecture,
located about 90 minutes by car from the Olympic Village.
Tsurigasaki Beach is a popular surfing destination in Japan and has hosted surfing competitions
in the past. In preparation for the Olympics, the IOC has been working with the ISA to provide
a nice environment for both athletes and spectators that will create a "full-on beach scene,"
according to an interview ISA President Fernando Aguerre gave to Surfer Magazine in August
2016. He said of the location,
"It will include the surf events of course, but also organic food, yoga in the morning
— it will be a place where you want to hang out."
As additional preparation, students, surfers, and other volunteers held a clean-up drive
at the beach in 2019, removing nearly 100 pounds of garbage from the beach in just one
hour.
If you're unfamiliar with how the sport of surfing is conducted, you may be wondering
what the Olympics surfing competition will be like.
The initial surfing event will consist of three rounds, with 20 men and 20 women competing.
The first round will have four surfers going head-to-head, the second will have five surfers,
and the rest of the rounds will have surfers competing one-on-one. Afterward, three finals
events will take place, with each heat lasting 30 minutes.
In the time provided, surfers must catch as many waves as they can. In total, the surfing
competition will have 23 heats to see which surfer brings home the gold medal.
There isn't a strict schedule regarding the exact days when the surfing competition will
be held, as it will be dependent on the wave conditions at the time, but the surfing association
is aiming to complete all of the events over the course of four days.
Judging for surfing in the Olympic Games will be done by a panel of surfing experts representing
different parts of the globe.
The judges will analyze the surfers and give scores on a scale of one to 10, with up to
two decimal places. Surfers will then have their two highest scores combined to come
up with their total points. The more waves a surfer catches, the more opportunities they
have to improve their two highest scores.
The criteria for judging consists of five elements: degree of difficulty, innovation,
variety, the combination of maneuvers, and speed and power.
All 40 surfers — 20 men and 20 women — who will be competing at the Tokyo Olympics have
already been named. They represent 17 countries around the world, including the U.S., Brazil,
France, Germany, Peru, New Zealand, and Japan, among others. The decision was based on four
qualifier events — the 2019 ISA Games, the 2019 WSL Championship Tour, the 2019 Pan American
Games, and the 2020 ISA Games.
There are already medal favorites among the surfers heading into the Tokyo Olympics. One
of them is Brazil's Gabriel Medina, who has two World Titles under his belt, and is being
coached by former pro surfer Andy King.
Another surfer to look out for is Kanoa Igarashi from Japan, who has been surfing since he
was 3 years old. As he wrote on a throwback photo on Instagram,
"I was born for this."
For the women, one of the favorites is Stephanie Gilmore, a seven-time world champion surfer
from Australia nicknamed "Happy Gilmore" for her winning smile.
In an interview with the Olympic Channel, she said,
"Winning is wonderful and I love it. I love holding the trophy and I'm competitive as
hell."
U.S.A.'s Carissa Moore, who started surfing at 5 years old, is also a medal favorite.
She has won several competitions and was named Rookie of the Year when she was 17 years old.
"I'm really really proud to represent the USA, but in particular Hawaii."
For the audience, though, the Olympic Games' first surfing competition is an historic event
to watch, no matter who wins.
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