Surfing at the 2024 Paris Olympics: What to Expect

Paris 2024 aims to elevate festivities and provide viewers with awe-inspiring sports in line with the enduring spirit of the Olympic Games. It has included four impressive fields of study, such as surfing, and carefully selected locations and facilities to complement them.

Olympic Surfing in Teahupo’o Information

Surfing will make its second appearance at the Games after Tokyo in 2021. The chosen location for this event is the Teahupo'o Wave in Tahiti, renowned for being highly challenging and visually stunning during this time of the year.

The choice to host the surfing contests in Teahupo'o aligns with Paris 2024's goal of dispersing the Games around France. This is a unique chance to include French overseas colonies and their inhabitants in the Olympic Games, which has never been done before.

It also allows for the display of France's abundant and varied cultural legacy.

The waves at Teahupo'o will present an Olympic-caliber test for the competitors while also providing viewers in Tahiti and throughout the globe with a stunning spectacle. Tahiti will stage a unique tournament at a location highly respected by surfers worldwide: Teahupo'o has been the Pro Tahiti World Championship tournament venue for more than twenty years and is a prominent feature on the Men's Championship Tour. It is a coveted destination for several prominent surfers, and a handful of them, such as Jérémy Florès, Kelly Slater, Gabriel Medina, Mark Occhilupo, and Andy Irons, have had the privilege of successfully conquering it. Between 1999 and 2006, it was included in the Women's circuit and made a significant comeback in August 2022.

The competition location has been specifically developed to safeguard the island's exceptional natural environment. The event will have little impact on the beach as the waves break at a distance from the shore. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience excitement and suspense at the live venues, all while commemorating Polynesian culture, the Olympic ethos, and the principles of Paris 2024.

Attracting a Younger Generation & Bettors

The inclusion of the Olympic sport was initiated with the aim of captivating the attention of a younger generation. By doing this, it has drawn in bettors worldwide looking for a thrilling betting experience. Placing bets on surfing entails betting not just on the athlete's performance but also on the unpredictable nature of the ocean. The ocean's vastness may level the playing field, a refreshing prospect for an enthusiastic risk-taker, as expert-recommended NZ betting apps will thrive in the waters.

The Tokyo 2021 Olympics became the first in history to debut Olympic surfing at sportsbooks worldwide. Surfing has not previously been included as an Olympic sport before 2021, which creates anticipation for Paris 2024. The sport began in Hawaii centuries ago, and its inaugural American tournament occurred in 1928. While other surfboard types exist, the Olympics have restricted the introduction of surfing to shortboards. In the case of a successful outcome, subsequent games will integrate more boards into the competition. Surfing entails skillfully navigating the crest of a wave in the water. Considerable athleticism is needed to ride a wave successfully.

Paris 2024 Surfing Rules

The surfing competition at Paris 2024 will employ the "four-man heat" format. This technique enables the simultaneous presence of four athletes in the water. Each wave permits only one surfer. Before breaking, a wave takes shape as a crest. The individual closest to a developing wave crest is granted permission to surf it. If a rival obstructs the athlete's ability to ride the wave, there will be penalties or deductions in points. Surfers are allotted 20-25 minutes to ride as many waves as they choose while in the water. Each athlete might experience 10-12 waves throughout that period.

Only the two surfers with the highest scores will advance in the competition, and their scores will be combined with their two best waves. The magnitude of the wave, the duration of the surfer's balance, and the complexity of the maneuvers performed all contribute to the final score, which determines the competition's victor.

Surfing at the Summer Olympic Games 2024: Qualification

• The Paris 2024 Olympic surfing program will feature 48 surfers, equalizing 24 male and 24 female participants.

• There will be eight additional surfers compared to Tokyo 2020.

•  The Olympic surfing competition is scheduled from July 27th to July 29th, 2024.

•  The pathway for surfers to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics involves achieving notable outcomes in competitions organized by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and the World Surf Leagues.

• The ISA serves as the global regulatory authority for the discipline of surfing. It organizes the World Surfing Games.
  
• The WSL refers to the professional surfing circuit. It manages the Championship Tour.

The allocation of quota slots for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be distributed in the following manner:

• Athlete qualification for the 2023 WSL Championship Tour in Santiago. The 2023 Pan American Games and the 2023 and 2024 ISA World Surfing Games.
•  National Olympic Committees (NOC) will determine qualification for these events based on the 2022 and 2024 ISA World Surfing Games results.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fred Felton          

Content Creator / Editor

Fred Felton is a copywriter, editor and social media specialist based in Durban, South Africa. He has over 20 years of experience in creating high end content. He has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world. Currently Fred specialises in the adventure watersports space, focussing on surf, kayak and rafting. He is also a keynote speaker and has presented talks and workshops in South Africa.