You’ve watched the Olympics for years, cheering on remarkable athletes and celebrating athletics as a global unifying force. You’ve been in awe of Simone Biles’s tremendous strength, rallied behind Michael Phelps’ unstoppable record, and cheered in joy when Serena Williams won yet another gold. Yet, that surfer in you couldn’t help but feel sad that your favorite sport, surfing, wasn’t in the Olympics. Luckily, that won’t be the case for long!
Is surfing included in the Olympics? Yes, surfing will be included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for the first time in history. In 2016, the International Olympic Committee unanimously voted to include surfing in the Olympic games.
Finally, after more than fifty years of strong advocacy for surfing to be included in the Olympics, the greatest surfers in the world will up meet in Tokyo, Japan to compete in The Games of the XXXII Olympiad, commonly known as Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. The 2020 Olympic games are scheduled July 24th – August 9th, 2020.
Pre-Existing Global Surf Competitions
Prior to surfing becoming an Olympic sport in the 2020 Tokyo summer Olympics, there were (and still are) many large surfing competitions. Depending who you ask, you’ll get different answers regarding where you can find the biggest and most reputable surf competitions in the world. That being said, one main competition stands out above the rest: The WSL Word Tour.
The WSL (World Surf League) World Tour is a ten or eleven competition series. For example, female surfers must travel to 10 different competitions around the world to show off their skills and compete. These competitions include but are not limited to (pulled from SurferToday.com):
- Corona Open Gold Coast | March 26 – April 5
- Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach | April 8-18
- Margaret River Pro | April 22 – May 2
- Quiksilver Pro G-Land | June 4-14
- Oi Rio Pro | June 18-27
- Corona Open J-Bay | July 7-19
- Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Freshwater Pro | September 15-20
- Roxy Pro France | October 1-11
- Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal | October 14-25
- Hawaii Pro | November 25-December 6
Another great surf event that stands out to us is The Tahiti Pro Teahupoo competition. This professional competition used to be part of the ASP World Tour. This competition is held in Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti and is sponsored by Billabong. It’s recognized as “one of the world’s heaviest big wave competitions” and offers prize money of over 300,000 dollars!
Notably, up until 2019, Mavericks, a competition off the coast of Northern California was on most people’s list of the biggest and most reputable surf competitions. Unfortunately, in 2019, the organizers of Mavericks canceled the competition indefinitely.
If you are looking for a list of reputable events and competitions, you can visit World Surf League.com or click here for a thorough list.
The Decision to Add Surfing To The Olympics
For more than fifty years, people have advocated for surfing to be added as an Olympic sport. At the forefront of this charge was a man by the name of Duke Kahanamoku. Duke Kahanamoku, born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, commonly known as the “father of modern surfing” brought his passion for surfing to a global audience and can be credited for introducing the sport to the US Atlantic Coast, Australia and New Zealand. He was also an Olympic swimmer and competed in three Olympics to win three gold medals and two silver metals. He was also a US Representative at the Melbourne Olympics, an official guest at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and inducted into the Olympic hall of fame.
For much of Duke Kahanamoku’s adult life, he was an avid advocate for adding surfing to the Olympics. According to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics website, “Kahanamoku planted the seed for surfing’s future Olympic inclusion by expressing his dream to see the sport become an Olympic sport while accepting his medal on the podium at the 1912 Games”. It’s safe to say that Duke Kahanamoku would be thrilled to hear that surfing has now been added to the 2020 summer Olympics.
On August 3rd, 2016, all ninety members of the International Olympic Committee unanimously voted to add surfing as a sport to the 2020 Summer Olympics. The 2020 Summer Olympics will also welcome the addition of baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, and skateboarding as Olympic Sports.
Leading up to this decision, most of the pushback regarding surfing being added as an Olympic sport was related to whether or not the Olympics could offer proper conditions for surfing be it in an ocean or in a wave pool. Many argue that surfers competing in the ocean would result in an inability to objectively evaluate their skill and prowess due to the uncontrolled water and wave conditions.
However, many surfers argue that competing in a wave pool on the same exact waves to ensure controlled conditions would result in creating an entire new genre or wave (pun intended) of the sport. This would be similar to what happened to snowboarders when the half pipe was brought into play. Plus, many surfers dread the idea of surfing in a pool, as they believe that it diminishes what makes surfing so great in the first place –working with the ocean, connecting with nature, spending time outside, reading the waves, etc.
The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics committee decided that the surfing n will happen in the ocean. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics website stated, “The competition will take place in the ocean, where the condition of the waves, the direction and strength of the wind, and the ebb and flow of the tide will all be factors. No two waves are alike, making surfing a competition where athletes compete against each other while balancing the changing conditions of nature.” Many surfers are happy to hear that the competition will be held in the ocean, but still feel strongly that this makes it near impossible to be a competition.
What to Expect from Surfing During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Surfers will compete in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics at Shidashita Beach which is located in Chiba, just over forty miles outside of Tokyo. This location was chosen with the help and guidance of the Surfline’s forecast team. The meteorologists from the Surfline forecast team determined that this beach would offer the most ideal conditions for surf during the scheduled time period. The beach has a nice sandy bottom, regular sand bars, and mostly beach break waves with occasional barrels.
The surfers may wait for up to sixteen days for the best weather and surf conditions to roll around. Once the conditions are right, the surfers will take to the ocean and compete for two or three days.
When competing, each athlete will be allowed to ride up to twenty-five waves, and will choose their two highest scoring waves to create their result (information pulled from Tokyo2020.org). According to Tokyo2020.org, “A panel of five judges will score each ride based on the “judging criteria”, which reflect a definition of good surfing and are based upon the key elements of commitment and degree of difficulty, innovative and progressive maneuvers, combinations of major maneuvers, variety of maneuvers, and speed, power and flow”.
Who Will Be Competing
There will be forty surfers competing in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. According to Dashel Pierson from Surfline.com, these surfers will come from around the globe and will qualify into the Olympics via the 2019 Championship Tour, ISA World Surfing Games, and the 2019 Pan-American Games; there will also be two spots reserved for Japanese surfers.
As of December 2019, according to an article written by Ashlee Tulloch on Olympic Channel.com, the following thirteen women will be competing in the Summer 2020 Tokyo Olympics (seven spots still needed to be filled):
Qualified via the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour: Carissa Moore (United States), Caroline Marks (United States), Stephanie Gilmore (Australia), Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia), Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil), Silvana Lima (Brazil), Johanne Defay (France), Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica)
Qualified through the 2019 Pan American Games: Daniella Rosas (Peru)
Qualified through the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games: Bianca Buitendag (South Africa), Shino Matsuda (Japan), Anat Lelior (Israel), Ella Williams (New Zealand)
As of December 2019, according to an article written by Ashlee Tulloch on Olympic Channel.com, the following fifteen men will be competing in the Summer 2020 Tokyo Olympics (five spots still needed to be filled):
Qualified via the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour: Gabriel Medina (Brazil), Italo Ferreira (Brazil), Kolohe Andino (United States), John John Florence (United States), Owen Wright (Australia), Julian Wilson (Australia), Michel Bourez (France), Jeremy Flores (France), Jordy Smith (South Africa), and Kanoa Igarashi (Japan)
Qualified through the 2019 Pan American Games: Lucca Mesinas (Peru)
Qualified through the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games: Frederico Morais (Portugal), Ramzi Boukhiam (Morocco), Shun Murakami (Japan), and Billy Stairmand (New Zealand)
Only time will tell which surfers will snag up the remaining spots and earn their place in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. We’re excited to see where this new chapter in Olympic history takes us.
Related Questions:
Will Kelly Slater be Competing in the 2020 Olympics?
No, Kelly Slater, long considered one of the greatest surfers of all time, will not be competing in the 2020 Olympics. He did not qualify for the Olympics. Kelly Slater lost his spot to John-John Florence, who secured his spot on the US team in December.
How do I Watch the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics from my Home?
You can watch the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics on NBC. You can also live stream the Olympics for free, thanks to the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) who are dedicated to ensuring free access to the Olympic games for as many viewers as possible.
Will the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics be Postponed due to the COVID- 19 Pandemic?
At this time (March 20th, 2019), the IOC (International Olympic Committee) has not made any steps toward postponing the 2020 summer Olympics. Among many individuals and organizations, the USA swimming committee has urged the IOC to postpone the Olympics for an entire year.