The Highlights of Surfing Olympics 2024
A recap on the thrill of the Surfing Olympics 2024 with our highlights coverage
With the 2024 Surfing Olympics being over, we want to honour THE sports event of the year, with a little recap to all the iconic moments that we seen in this year’s competition as it has left people worldwide wanting more due to its adrenaline-pumping and epic nature.
This year the Surfing Olympics took place in Tahiti, on the world famous wave Teahupoo, which is one of the world’s most challenging waves offering either the ride of a lifetime or a serious injury. From the 26th of July to the 8th of August some of the world’s best surfers gathered here to showcase their talent. Among them were for example John John Florence, Jack Robinson, Gabriel Medina, Kauli Vaast, Caroline Marks and Tatiana Weston-Webb, who took to the challenging waves of Teahupoo showing the world a phenomenal standard of surfing. Let's take a look back at the sporting event of the year, the highlights, the behind the scenes and who wrote history for the surfing community.
The exciting History of Olympic Surfing
Ancient Roots to Global hype: The first ever dated records of surfing was started by the Polynesians, who enjoyed riding waves on handmade wooden boards. Surfing was then brought to Hawaii, where it became deeply rooted in the local culture and practiced as a spiritual practice connecting the surfers to the ocean. Surfing took some time to be debuted in the Olympic Games, here is a brief history:
In the 1920s, surf legend Duke Kahanamoku voted for surfing to be included in the Olympic Games.
In 1995, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognized the ISA as the governing body for surfing and bodyboarding, marking the first time wave riding was part of the Olympic family.
Challenges and Triumphs: Surfing wasn’t considered for the Beijing 2008 Olympics However, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee suggested including surfing in the Olympic Games.
Olympic Debut: In the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, surfing made its first debut marking a special milestone for the wave-riding community.
Why Tahiti?
Before we review the highlights, let's have a deeper look at the Olympian wave that was surfed this year: Teahupoo. This Olympian wave is found in Tahiti, which is 15.000 km away from France, making it the biggest distance seen yet between a host city and an olympic village. Tahiti is a group of islands that operates as a territory of France. French polynesians can vote in the French elections and they are allowed to live in France. The surfing competition was staged in Tahiti to spread the Olympic Games across France, making it the perfect opportunity to engage French overseas territories in the Olympic games for the first time ever in History. Secondly, surfing in France during the months of July and August is typically some of the worst surf of the year, making Tahiti a more desirable location. Also, during the Olympic surfing window Tahiti offers overhead surf more than 60% of the time. There is a three times better chance of scoring overhead surf in Tahiti compared to France during these months.
Teahupoo: The pile of Heads
Nestled on the South West coast of Tahiti we find one of the world’s heaviest waves: Teahupoo, and it is not known for height, but rather for its weight and thickness. The challenging nature of this wave is because approaching swell moves quickly from very deep water (150 feet) to very shallow water (six feet). This sudden change causes the waves to rise sharply and crash over a shallow reef. Teahupoo produces a hollow wave with a thick lip, producing rolling left hand cylinders. It gets great south swells between April to September and it is one of the world's greatest waves, making this a great wave selection for the Olympic Games and for its beauty: characterized by beautiful mountains, lined with swaying palm trees against the deep blue waters.
How did Surfers qualify?
This year 48 surfers competed in the Olympic Games, 24 females and 24 males. Each National Olympic committee could qualify a maximum of four representatives, 2 males and 2 females to represent the qualifying country. This could end up being 3 representatives per gender as additional spots are given to the top placed national teams at the 2022 and 2024 ISA world surfing Games. On the men's side, Japan (2022) and Brazil (2024) were the winning countries, therefore Reo Inaba and Gabriel Medina competed. For the women, the USA (2022) and Brazil (2024) were victorious, allowing Caity Simmers and Taina Hinckel to compete. Additionally, Indonesian professional surfer Rio Waida earned a spot to represent Indonesia in the Olympics this year.
The surfers qualified through excellent performances in the WSL Championship Tour 2023, the ISA World Surfing Games in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and the Pan American Games 2023. In addition, the host country quota applied, which provided the host country (France) with two additional spots (1 woman, 1 man). Furthermore, an invitation is made by the International Olympic Committee to all National Olympic committees allowing them to express their willingness to have a surfer compete in the Games. The surfer must be in the Top 50 of the 2023/24 ISA world surfing games to qualify for this spot. The spot is given to increase the diversity of the surfers competing in the Games. The ISA chose El-Salvador and Nicaragua, then sent over Bryan Perez and Candelaria Resano, to compete.
Highlights of Olympic Surfing 2024
Being one of the most anticipated sports in the Olympic Games, surfing has made waves in the world. The addition of surfing to the Olympic Games has had a profound impact on the global recognition and popularity of surfing worldwide. Let’s have a look on our highlights of Olympic Surfing 2024:
Who won the Olympics 2024 in surfing?
Mens division:
Gold Medal: Kauli Vaast, a Tahitian local from France
Silver Medal: Jack Robinson, Australian surfer and #3 in the WSL rankings
Bronze Medal: Gabriel Medina, Brazilian surfer who generated a lot of media attention during the Olympic Games
Women’s division:
Gold Medal: Caroline Marks, American surfer and #2 in the WSL rankings
Silver Medal: Tatiana Weston-Webb, professional surfer from Brazil.
Bronze Medal: Johanne Defay, French surfer who was representing the host country
Some more highlights that left us speechless and we won’t forget so fast:
The Wave of the Event by Gabriel Medina:
Gabriel Medina’s (bronze medalist) near perfect wave. In round three, Medina took the wave of the event on the biggest day of the event window, he kicked out, and his photo went viral. He scored a 9.90 on this wave, the image of a lifetime and gained 2,8M followers on Instagram after the 2024 Surfing Olympics.
The best rounds of competition in Surfing History:
Round 3 of the men's competition was clearly the highlight, it was seen as one of the best rounds of competition in surfing history. The waves were pumping, and many surfers caught the barrels of their lives, but were also plunged towards the shallow reef in brutal wipeouts.
July 19th: Teahupoo shows his dangerous side:
On July 19th, the biggest and most dangerous day of the event window happened and Teahupoo showed why this wave is just for the best of the best. With a strong south west swell Teahupoo experienced waves unloading on the reef looking like a horse shoe showcasing just how dangerous this epic sport can be.
Retirement: Carissa Moore ends her career:
One of the most inspirational women surfer and five time world champion, Carissa Moore, announced in tears her retirement from professional surfing. Her appearance at the 2024 Olympics Games was her grand finale but unfortunately she was out in the quarterfinals.
“The last thing I want to say is that I want to express my gratitude to everyone that’s been there and supported me, not only in this event but my whole life. It’s just nice to have a community behind you. So, thank you.”
No pain, no gain?!
French surfer, Johanne Defay truly embodied the Olympic spirit. In Round 1 she took a nasty wipeout, hitting her head on the reef and coming up with a face full of blood. Surprisingly, she got more fearless after that, and charged the swells in the following rounds and eventually won the Bronze medal.
From Gabriel Medina’s near-perfect score and viral photograph to Kauli Vaast’s home win, the men’s competition was action-packed with epic moments and loads of talent was showcased. On the women’s side, Caroline Marks’ journey to gold and all the surprises in the competition, Carissa Moore’s early heat exit and a whale’s appearance during a semifinal heat. These Olympics have shown that surfing has earned its place on the global level and we can’t wait for the next Olypmics to come.
