Surfing at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Surfing made its Olympic début on 25 July 2021 at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Tokyo. This was a surfing venue that had held second tier international competitions in the past. Early on there had been suggestions that a ‘wave pool’ might be a better option, based on concern the beach would not provide adequate wave conditions, but the Olympic organizers wished for the first Olympic surfing experience to be held in a natural setting. As it turned out, tropical storm Nepartak, which made its appearance just off the coast of Japan, eliminated any wave concerns and presented the Olympians with some challenging conditions. As a result, the event, which had been provided an eight day window to complete, wrapped up in three consecutive days of competition, with the finals moved up one day to take advantage of the superb waves. In terms of the total medal count, host country Japan emerged at the top with two medals, followed by Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and the United States, with one each.

For its Olympic début, a decision had been made to confine the competition to shortboard only. As a result 20 men and 20 women competed for a respective single set of medals. As host country, Japan was assured of at least one place in both men’s and women’s events, with the rest of the field qualifying through a combination of the 2019 World Surf League Championship tour standings, results from the 2019 Pan American Games, as well as results from the 2019 and 2021 International Surfing Association’s World Surfing Games. As for the competition format, no one was eliminated in the first set of heats, with the top two from each going directly to Round 3, while the others went to a Round 2 for further advancement. Beginning with the third round, the heats involved two individuals, with only the winner advancing. Judging was based on difficulty of manoeuvres performed, taking into account the speed, power, and flow of each manoeuvre.