With all the diverse sports we get to see at every Olympic Games, one would think that it always used to be like that. Yet, this is far from being true. When the Olympic Games were held in Ancient Greece, athletes competed in only six sports. These included boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, running, a three-section event where they had to perform a long jump, throw a disc and a javelin, and pankration, a combination of boxing and wrestling where the only limitation for the contestants was not to bite or gouge each other.
Even when the Olympic Games were brought back to life in the late 19th century, the number of sports, while bigger than in Ancient Greece, was still nowhere near as diverse as it is today. The first Olympics of modernity in 1896 Athens hosted athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.
But like anything else in life, sports don’t stay still and keep evolving. New sports have been invented, some of the already existing ones gained more popularity. Summer Olympic Games kept evolving together with them, adding new sports and removing the ones that lost their relevance with time. The current 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games are the 30th edition of the tournament and feature the following sports:
- Artistic swimming
- Diving
- Marathon swimming
- Swimming
- Water polo
- Archery
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Basketball (basketball & 3×3 basketball)
- Boxing
- Breaking
- Canoeing (slalom & sprint)
- Cycling (BMX freestyle, BMX racing, mountain biking, road, track)
- Equestrian (dressage, eventing, jumping)
- Fencing
- Field hockey
- Football
- Golf
- Gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic, trampoline)
- Handball
- Judo
- Modern pentathlon
- Rowing
- Rugby sevens
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Skateboarding
- Sport climbing
- Surfing
- Table tennis
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
- Triathlon
- Volleyball (volleyball & beach volleyball)
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling (freestyle & Greco-Roman)
Surfing: Riding the Wave into the Olympics
While the mass surfing culture started rising around the late 1940s to early 1950s in California, it has been known in many cultures as far back as three to five thousand years ago. In Peru, fishermen used special rafts to surf back to the shore, while people of Polynesia used body boards as a means of transportation. The modern way of upright surfing was born in Hawaii after presumably the Polynesians brought it to the islands with other aspects of their culture.
Various nations in West Africa and western Central Africa are also well known for developing surfing as part of their culture. Even in California, where the sport is an indispensable part of the scene, surfing first appeared in the late 19th century.
As surfing depends on the waves, it is most widely spread in areas that offer the best conditions. In the US it is Hawaii and California, in Australia it is New South Wales and most of the eastern coast. The Tahitian island of Teahupo’o and the Fijian island of Tavarua are some of the best locations in Polynesia. However, it is possible to engage in surf riding at almost any coast, so surfing communities are not limited to the abovementioned locations.
First Appearance at Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics
The appeal to include surfing into the Olympic programme was submitted in September 2015. Other sports on the list included skating, sport climbing, baseball, softball, and karate. Until that point, one of the biggest obstacles for surfing to become an Olympic sport was lack of venues if the Games were conducted in a landlocked country. Another concern was high risk of drowning that the sport is associated with.
By August 2016, all the proposed sports were approved to be included in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics programme, with baseball and softball registered as one sport. Competition was limited to shortboard, available for both men and women. Each National Olympic Committee was allowed to send not more than 2 men and 2 women.
Qualifications were based on the results in various surfing championships. 2019 World Surf League provided 10 berths for men and 8 for women, 2019 ISA World Surfing Games allocated 4 berths per gender category, while its second edition 2021 ISA World Surfing Games gave 4 berths to men and 6 to women. The 2019 Pan American Games provided two more berths, one per category, and the host country, Japan, was automatically granted one men’s and one women’s berth.
A total of 17 National Olympic Committees qualified to send their athletes to Tokyo 2020. 20 men and 20 women participated in the competition. Below you can find the names of the first ever Olympic medalists in the history of surfing.
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men’s shortboard | Ítalo Ferreira (Brazil) | Kanoa Igarashi (Japan) | Owen Wright (Australia) |
| Women’s shortboard | Carissa Moore (US) | Bianca Buitendag (South Africa) | Amuro Tsuzuki (Japan) |
Surfing Olympics 2024: Dates, Locations, and More
The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games will see the second edition of surfing as the Olympic sport. While other spectators have gathered in the French capital for the duration of the Games, surfing fans will be spending their time between 27 July and 5 August on the other side of the world. The village of Teahupo’o that is located on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia is widely regarded as one of the best spots for surfing waves in the world. Now it welcomes surfers who will compete for the gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals.
The quota for surfers increased this year. 48 berths are equally divided between male and female athletes. This is 8 surfers more than in Tokyo 2020. There was an increase in the number of participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs) as well. After the qualification process 21 nations were eligible to send their athletes, with the quota of two female and two male surfers per country remaining in place.
Qualifications were conducted according to the same general model that was applied for Tokyo 2020, however certain changes have been made to numbers and geographical universal opportunities. See the full list of participating National Olympic Committees and number of athletes representing them.
- Australia (4)
- Brazil (6)
- Canada (1)
- China (1)
- Costa Rica (1)
- El Salvador (1)
- France (4) Host
- Germany (2)
- Indonesia (1)
- Israel (1)
- Italy (1)
- Japan (4)
- Mexico (1)
- Morocco (1)
- New Zealand (2)
- Nicaragua (1)
- Peru (3)
- Portugal (2)
- South Africa (3)
- Spain (3)
- United States (5)
How Surfing Athletes Are Evaluated
A number of aspects go into judging surfers at the Olympic tournament. The type, difficulty, and variety of tricks they perform while riding the waves are the main points five judges will pay attention to. Other aspects include speed, power, and flow, that is, how seamlessly a surfer switches from one trick to another in the process.
Surfing Olympics 2024: Current Standing
The initial calendar for surfing events implied preliminary rounds for both men and women between 27 and 29 July. Both quarterfinals and semifinals for men were scheduled for Tuesday, 30 July, with the finals coming up on Wednesday, 31 July. Women would have competed in quarterfinals on Tuesday, 30 July, while semifinals and finals would take place on the same day, Wednesday, 31 July.
However, as surfing is highly dependable on weather conditions, the International Olympic Committee retains the right to postpone any of the events up until 5 August. As luck would have it, all events for Tuesday, 30 July were postponed due to surfing conditions with a colour code red. Both male and female athletes are on standby for the next weather update which is expected to come in later on Tuesday, at 17:45 GMT+10.
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