Since when is surfing an Olympic sport and why?

The first medal event isn’t until Wednesday, July 31, but the action for the Olympic surfers begins right away on Saturday, July 27. The opening rounds of both the men’s and women’s competitions kick off at the iconic Teahupo’o in Tahiti (located in French Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean), and as you may know, Paris isn’t exactly the best place for waves. But how long has the sport with the five rings behind it been around?

When will surfing first be part of the Olympic Games?

Some sports are an integral part of the two-week Olympic activity. Others come and go. This year, for example, at the Paris 2024 Games, three disciplines did not return from last time: karate, baseball and softball. For fans of waveriding, however, the news was positive.

Surfing was one of four sports to debut on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a proposal from the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympic Games, together with karate, skateboarding and sport climbing, the latter two also returning.

How do surfers score points?

Surfers perform a series of maneuvers and tricks on the waves, which are judged by five jury members. These judgments take into account the diversity, type and complexity of the tricks. In addition, surfers are judged on their speed, power and fluidity in transition seamless between movements. At the Olympics, shortboards are preferred because they offer more speed and agility.

Why is surfing now an Olympic sport?

2021 (the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to the COVID pandemic) marked the first time surfing was included in the Olympics. The International Surfing Association had announced in 2018 that the Olympic trials would take place in the ocean at Shidashita Beach in ChibaTokyo, and not in artificial wave pools as some had predicted.

It came about because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided in 2014 that organizing committees of each edition of the Olympic Games could propose new events. In September 2015, the Tokyo committee sent its proposal to include the aforementioned new sports, as well as the return of baseball and softball. But you have to go all the way back to the 1920s to discover where the surfing movement began, while fans, including three-time Olympic freestyle swimming champion and Hawaiian native Duke Kahanamoku, campaigned for its inclusion.

In August 2016, the IOC approved their addition. Thomas Bach, president of the said institution, explained the reasoning behind the decision.

“We want to bring the sport to the youth. With the many options that young people have, we can no longer expect them to automatically come to us. We have to go to them… Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of established and emerging youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will contribute to the legacy of the Tokyo Games.”

Although the Games often take place outside the city where they are held, the excitement and spectacle that the events bring may be reason enough to continue hosting them in future summers.