It seems like only yesterday the French capital welcomed athletes and sports fans from all over the world for the start of one of the largest sport events. Since 26 July to this day the latest edition of the Summer Olympic Games has been capturing everyone’s attention. 206 nations sent 10,714 athletes to compete in 32 sports that included 48 disciplines.
Every day at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games brought a whirlwind of emotions, with its colourful moments, triumphant victories, public favourites, and new Olympic and world records. But as anything in the world, the Olympics are coming to an end. With only a few days left until the closing ceremony, teams are getting ready to go home, analyze their performances, and get ready for the next Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, in most sports the names of the Olympic medalists have already been announced. Some were well expected, some came in as a surprise. That being said, let’s take a look at the winners of one of the newest Olympic sports, surfing.
What You Need To Know About Surfing Olympics 2024
While surfing is relatively young as a competitive sport, its origins go back for several thousand years. It was a well-developed activity among various people of Peru, Polynesia, and West Africa. Some Polynesian nations took it to Hawaii, and from there surfing found its way to California at the end of the 19th century. The mass popularity that gave rise to the modern surfing culture happened some time between the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Despite a huge following and an entire culture created around surfing as an activity, it wasn’t until 2020 that it was included in the Olympic Games programme. Two of the main concerns that prevented surfing from becoming an Olympic sport were the conditions it required for conducting and the high risk of drowning associated with the sport. As surfing needs waves, it is a coastal sport. So if the Olympics were to be conducted in a landlocked country, organizing a suitable venue would be problematic.
But after an appeal to include surfing into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was submitted to the International Olympic Committee in September 2015, things started changing. About a year later, by August 2016 it was announced that surfing was approved to become a part of the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Other sports that were set to make an Olympic debut the same year were skateboarding, sport climbing, baseball, softball, and karate.
While surfing has various disciplines divided into several categories, only short board is admitted to the Olympic programme. The competition is available for both men and women.
For the 2024 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee allocated a quota of maximum of two men and two women per qualifying National Olympic Committee. The total number of berths was increased, growing from 40 in 2020 Tokyo to 48 in 2024 Paris. The number of participating National Olympic Committees also grew from 17 in 2020 to 21 in 2024.
The tournament was to take place between 27 July and 5 August in the village of Teahupo’o, Tahiti in French Polynesia. Well-known for its surfing waves, Teahupo’o will break the record of the farthest physical distance between a medal venue and the host city.
The overall qualification mechanism remained the same as it was for the inaugural edition, with some changes applied to numbers and geographical universal opportunities. Qualification was conducted through a number of events:
- 2022 ISA World Surfing Games
- 2023 World Surf League
- 2023 ISA World Surfing Games
- 2023 Pan American Games
- 2024 ISA World Surfing Games
- Reallocation of unused quota places
As a result, the following nations became eligible to send their surfing athletes to 2024 Paris:
| NOC | Men | Women | Total |
| Australia | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Brazil | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Canada | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| China | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Costa Rica | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| El Salvador | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| France | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Germany | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Israel | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Japan | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mexico | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Morocco | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Nicaragua | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Peru | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Portugal | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| South Africa | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Spain | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| United States | 2 | 3 | 5 |
How Evaluating Surfing Events Works
There are a number of things judges take into consideration when evaluating a surfing tournament. Athletes have to excel in types and difficulty of tricks they perform as well as their variety. Judges also look at the speed, power, and flow, or how smoothly a surfer can transition from one trick to another during their performance. An Olympic tournament typically includes five judges.
Surfing Olympics 2024 Winners
With the surfing Olympic finale taking place on 5 August, both male and female surfers have finished their tournament. Six names, three men and three women, will remain in history as the Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalists of the second edition of surfing at the Olympic Games. Take a look at these names below:
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men’s shortboard | Kauli Vaast
(France) |
Jack Robinson
(Australia) |
Gabriel Medina
(Brazil) |
| Women’s shortboard | Caroline Marks
(United States) |
Tatiana Weston-Webb
(Brazil) |
Johanne Defay
(France) |
Correspondingly, the list of National Olympic Committees with the highest numbers of medals won during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games is as follows:
| Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | France (host) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | United States | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Brazil | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
Surfing Olympics 2024: Schedule Changes
Surfing is one of those sports that heavily depend on weather conditions. On top of that, it also depends on the waves and their suitability for riding. And while the village of Teahupo’o is on the list of the best locations for surfing, it is not uncommon to have waves or weather conditions that are too harsh to enter the water.
For this reason, when scheduling the surfing programme for the 2024 Olympics, the teams were given a longer period of time in which they would complete all preliminary as well as medal rounds. According to the initial schedule, both men’s and women’s preliminaries were to take place from 27 to 29 July. Tuesday, 30 July would see men’s and women’s quarterfinals, as well as men’s semifinals, while Wednesday, 31 July was allocated for women’s semifinals and both men’s and women’s finals. However, should the need have arised, the events could be postponed up until 5 August.
Initially, the events went according to the schedule, but on 29 July women’s third round was postponed, as the waves were gradually growing too high. The standby continued for the next two days. Surfers were able to return to the coast on Thursday, 1 August, when women finally completed their third round, while men conducted the quarterfinals. The women’s quarterfinals followed on Friday, 2 August. After that the event had to be suspended again. Eventually, semifinals and finals for both teams took place on Monday, 5 August, the last day of the surfing programme.
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