Tahiti, in French Polynesia, was the site of the 2024 Olympic surfing competition, following the sports’ debut at the 2020 Games, held in Japan in 2021. A combination of factors placed the event almost 15,700 km (9700 mi) distant from the host city. First, surfing conditions in France are generally poor in the summer months, and secondly, it was an opportunity to feature the breadth of France and its possessions. The chief factor, though, was that Teahupo’o, Tahiti, where the actual event was held, features surfing conditions of iconic stature, with legendary barrels and wave swells. It is one of the stops on the World Surf League tour, and it was felt that competitors who performed well at that particular event would have a distinct advantage in gaining an Olympic medal. Another unique feature of the venue was that, because the waves break on a shallow reef over half a mile from shore, competitors had to be boated to the starting point. In addition, a floating Olympic Village was required, in the form of the Aranui 5 cruise ship. The event had a window between July 27 to August 5 to complete, allowing for possible delays if conditions warranted it. That became a factor on day three, July 29, when waves became so dangerous that it was decided to postpone the women’s round three, after the men had completed their round. A two day storm continued that postponement until competition resumed on August 1, with conditions remaining superb until the awarding of medals. In terms of the total medal count, the host country, France, garnered two (a gold and a bronze), to share the medal count with Brazil, who earned a silver and a bronze. Winning single medals were the USA, with a gold, and Australia, with a silver.
The entire field consisted of 24 men and 24 women, the participants earning their berths through results from the International Surfing Association’s World Surfing Games, the World Surf League Championship Tour, the 2023 Pan American Games held in Santiago CL, and two universality slots, a Olympic initiative providing an avenue for high caliber surfers from less represented countries to participate at this level. It was noteworthy, and perhaps a reflection of the competitive nature of surfing, that only two medalists from the Tokyo Games qualified for this year’s Olympics, they being the women’s gold medalist, Carissa Moore of the US, and men’s silver medalist, Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi. Six countries made their Olympic debut sending representatives, including Canada, China, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Spain, the latter having three contestants.
The competition format was similar to Tokyo, with winners of the first heats moving on to round three, while the losers took part in a second round of heats, the winner of each of those joining the others in round three. Beginning with the third round, only winners would advance until the final four squared off for the medals. In judging, each wave a surfer rode was evaluated on a scale of 0.10 to 10, with an eye toward commitment and degree of difficulty, and manoeuvres carried out. At Teahupo’o, because of its wave conditions, the judges were especially focused on the ‘barrel’ and length of time each surfer spent there.
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