โ๏ธ ย ย Updated on 2nd September 2022
Intro
Hi surfing friends, in today’s blog post I’ll be covering ‘Surfing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics’.
Whether you agreed with it or not, surfing made it’s official Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. So, to help all of you (and me) understand how it all worked… I put together this post so all the facts are one place.
Here’s a breakdown of the content we’re going to cover…
1. Surfing’s Olympic Journey
2. What Was The Qualification Process?
3. Where Did It Taking Place?
4. What Were The Competition Rules?
5. How Did The Heats Work?
6. How Was The Event Scored?
7. Who Competed?
8. What Was The Event Schedule?
9. Competition Results
10. How Can I Catch Up On The Event?
11. Olympics Debate
1. Surfing’s Olympic Journey
Now, the below timeline does not in any way do justice to the huge amount of work done to get surfing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. But, it does give a quick overview of the key moments that made it happen…
- 1920’s – Suggested to be included in the Olympic Games by Duke Kahanamoku
- 1994 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognised the International Surfing Association (ISA) as surfing’s international body
- 2013 – Thomas Bach responded positively to ISA President Fernando Aguerre proactive campaign to include surfing at the Olympics
- 2013 – Thomas Bach made President of IOC
- 2015 – Surfing unanimously voted to be included in 2019 Pan-American games in Peru
- 2016 – IOC decide to include surfing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
- 2019 – Surfing successfully staged at the Pan-American games in Peru
- 2020 – Olympics rescheduled for 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021 – Surfing men’s and women’s competitive heats started on July 25th
- 2021 – Surfing men’s and women’s final aired on July 27th
It’s definitely who you know and not what you know. This was a dream of Fernando Aguerre’s for over 25 years and he made it a reality. His next task will be maintaining surfing’s status as an Olympic sport for future Olympic Games.
2. What was the qualification process?
Now, the qualification process was a lengthy affair with 2020 being a complete right-off. It’s also a bit complicated so feel free to skip this bit if you want.
Here were the rules to a successful qualification…only two surfers per gender per National Olympic Committee (NOC) are allowed to qualify. All qualifications are earned on an individual basis and surfers had to have participated in both the 2019 and 2021 ISA World Surfing Games.
The IOC guidelines used a hierarchical order to determine each competitors successful qualification. Let’s explain this with an example, if a surfer qualifies via their final place in the 2019 WSL Championship Tour (which has Priority 1 status in the hierarchical order shown below), that surfer cannot then qualify again via any following events from Priority 2-5.
To help you visualise, here is a brief timeline to give you an idea of when all this happened.
3. Where did it take place?
The event took place at Tsurigasaki Beach also known as Shidashita Beach. The beach is located on the South East coast of the nearby region Chiba. It’s around 50 miles outside of Toyko so was certainly one of the more remote sporting venues.
There was some speculation an artificial wave pool could be used for the venue. This would have guaranteed waves and meant that each competitor got the same wave, but the IOC decided against it.
4. What were the competition rules?
- Each wave can only have one rider
- The athlete with priority has the right of way
- The competitor who has priority can lose their right of way if they do not proceed to ride the wave
- Any interference with a competitor who has priority can result in an interference penalty and loss of points
- Two interferences during a heat often leads to disqualification
5. How did the heats work?
Surfing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics adopted the same four-person heat method used throughout the competitive surfing world. For the Olympics this method consisted of four athletes competing at a time. Out of these four, only the best two will proceed to the next round.
The length of the heats lasted between 20-30 minutes. In World Surfing League (WSL) competitions, if no one catches a wave during the first 10 minutes of a heat, the judges have the power to restart the heat โ but this is wsan’t the case in the Olympics. Only the two best rides from each competitor will count. The winners were determined by a panel of judges.
6. How was the event scored?
The scoring wasย based on both the type and difficulty of manoeuvres performed. However, speed, power and the general flow of each move was also taken into account.
The highest scores were scored on bigger waves. The competitors needed to provide variety and innovation to score well. There was certainly a focus of quality over quantity in this area. The scoring criteria used the following quality levels as a guideline;
0.0 โ 1.9 = Poor
2.0 โ 3.9 = Fair
4.0 โ 5.9 = Average
6.0 โ 7.9 = Good
8.0 โ 10 = Excellent
Using this quality level structure, surfers could have achieved a perfect 20/20 from their best two waves. Scores of 20 are rare and unfortunately we didn’t see any in this Olympics due to some fairly poor conditions.
7. Who competed?
Here is the full least of competitors alongside their current WSL rank (if they have one).
20 Male Contenders
- ๐ง๐ทย Brazil – Gabriel Medina (1) & Italo Ferreira (2)
- ๐ฆ๐บย Australia – Julian Wilson (17) & Owen Wright (20)
- ๐บ๐ธย USAย – John John Florence (10) & Kolohe Andino (38)
- ๐ซ๐ทย France – Jeremy Flores (25) & Michel Bourez (29)
- ๐ฏ๐ตย Japan – Kanoa Igarashi (6) & Hiroto Ohhara
- ๐ต๐ชย Peru – Miguel Tudela (52) & Lucca Mesinas
- ๐ฎ๐นย Italy – Leonardo Fioravanti (17)
- ๐ฆ๐ทย Argentina – Leandro Usuna
- ๐ฎ๐ฉย Indonesia – Rio Waida
- ๐ณ๐ฟย New Zealand – Billy Stairmand
- ๐ฒ๐ฆย Morroco – Ramzi Boukhiam
- ๐ฉ๐ชย Germany – Leon Glatzer
- ๐จ๐ฑย Chile – Manuel Selman
- ๐จ๐ทย ย Costa Rica – Carlos Munoz
20 Female Contenders
- ๐บ๐ธย USAย – Carissa Moore (1) & Caroline Marks (6)
- ๐ฆ๐บย Australia – Sally Fitzgibbons (3) & Stephanie Gilmore (5)
- ๐ซ๐ทย France – Johanne Defay (2) & Pauline Ado
- ๐ง๐ทย Brazil – Tatiana Weston-Webb (4) & Silvana Lima
- ๐จ๐ทย Costa Rica – Brisa Hennessy (15) & Leilani McGonagle
- ๐ฏ๐ตย Japan – Amuro Tsuzuki (18) & Mahina Maeda
- ๐ต๐นย Portugal – Yolanda Sequeria & Teresa Bonvalot
- ๐ต๐ชย Peru – Sofia Mulanovich & Daniella Rosas
- ๐ช๐จย Ecuador – Dominic Barona
- ๐ณ๐ฟย New Zealand – Ella Williams
- ๐ฟ๐ฆย South Africa – Bianca Buitendag
- ๐ฎ๐ฑย Israel – Anat Lelio
8. What was the event schedule?
The competition took place between the 24th of July and the 26th July 2021. Here’s a full breakdown of the event schedule with UK times (GMT+1).
Round 1 – Saturday 24th July (11pm – 5.40am)
First two competitors qualify for Round 3, bottom two qualifiers have to surf again in Round 2.
Men’s Heat 1 – 11.00pm –ย Ferreira ๐ง๐ทย / Fioravanti ๐ฎ๐นย / Ohhara ๐ฏ๐ตย / Usuna ๐ฆ๐ท
Men’s Heat 2 – 11.40pm – Igarashi ๐ฏ๐ตย / Flores ๐ซ๐ทย / Tudela ๐ต๐ชย / Stairmand ๐ณ๐ฟ
Men’s Heat 3 – 12.20am – Andino ๐บ๐ธย / Wilson ๐ฆ๐บย / Mesinas ๐ต๐ชย / Waida ๐ฎ๐ฉ
Men’s Heat 4 – 1.00am – Florence ๐บ๐ธย / Wright ๐ฆ๐บย / Selman ๐จ๐ฑย / Boukhiam ๐ฒ๐ฆ
Men’s Heat 5 – 1.40am – Medina ๐ง๐ทย / Bourez ๐ซ๐ทย / Glatzer ๐ฉ๐ชย / Munoz ๐จ๐ท
Women’s Heat 1 – 2.20am – Moore ๐บ๐ธย / Bonvalot ๐ต๐นย / Rosas ๐ต๐ชย / Barona ๐ช๐จ
Women’s Heat 2 – 3.00am – Fitzgibbons ๐ฆ๐บย / Hennessy ๐จ๐ทย / Maeda ๐ฏ๐ตย / Buitendag ๐ฟ๐ฆ
Women’s Heat 3 – 3.40am – Gilmore ๐ฆ๐บย / Lima ๐ง๐ทย / Ado ๐ซ๐ทย / Lelior ๐ฎ๐ฑ
Women’s Heat 4 – 4.20am – Weston-Webb ๐ง๐ทย / Defay ๐ซ๐ท / Tsuzuki ๐ฏ๐ตย / Mulanovich ๐ต๐ช
Women’s Heat 5 – 5.00am – Marks ๐บ๐ธย / Hopkins ๐ต๐นย / McGonagle ๐จ๐ทย / Williams ๐ณ๐ฟ
Round 2 – Saturday 24th July (5.40am – 8.20am)
First three competitors qualify for Round 3, bottom two qualifiers are knocked out.
Men’s Heat 1 – 5.40am – Florence ๐บ๐ธย / Waida ๐ฎ๐ฉย / Stairmand ๐ณ๐ฟย / Selman ๐จ๐ฑย / Munoz ๐จ๐ท
Men’s Heat 2 – 6.20am – Usuna ๐ฆ๐ทย / Flores ๐ซ๐ทย / Fioravanti ๐ฎ๐นย / Wilson ๐ฆ๐บย / Glatzer ๐ฉ๐ช
Women’s Heat 1 – 7.00am – Tsuzuki ๐ฏ๐ตย / Buitendag ๐ฟ๐ฆย / Maeda ๐ฏ๐ตย /ย ย McGonagle ๐จ๐ทย / Barona ๐ช๐จ
Women’s Heat 2 – 7.40am – Hopkins ๐ต๐นย / Ado ๐ซ๐ทย / Mulanovich ๐ต๐ชย / Lelior ๐ฎ๐ฑย / Rosas ๐ต๐ช
Round 3 – Sunday 25th July (11pm – 8.36am)
First competitor from each heat qualifies for the quarter-finals, bottom qualifier is knocked out.
Women’s Heat 1 – 11.00pm – Gilmore ๐ฆ๐บย / Buitendag ๐ฟ๐ฆ
Women’s Heat 2 – 11.36pm – Defay ๐ซ๐ทย / Hopkins ๐ต๐น
Women’s Heat 3 – 12.12am – Hennessy ๐จ๐ทย / Williams ๐ณ๐ฟ
Women’s Heat 4 – 12.48am – Marks ๐บ๐ธย / Maeda ๐ฏ๐ต
Women’s Heat 5 – 1.24am – Moore ๐บ๐ธย / Mulanovich ๐ต๐ช
Women’s Heat 6 – 2.00am – Lima ๐ง๐ทย / Bonvalot ๐ต๐น
Women’s Heat 7 – 2.36am – Weston-Webb ๐ง๐ทย / Tsuzuki ๐ฏ๐ต
Women’s Heat 8 – 3.12am – Fitzgibbons ๐ฆ๐บย / Ado ๐ซ๐ท
Men’s Heat 1 – 3.48am – Igarashi ๐ฏ๐ตย / Waida ๐ฎ๐ฉ
Men’s Heat 2 – 4.24am – Andino ๐บ๐ธย / Florence ๐บ๐ธ
Men’s Heat 3 – 5.00am – Bourez ๐ซ๐ทย / Boukhiam ๐ฒ๐ฆ
Men’s Heat 4 – 5.36am – Medina ๐ง๐ทย / Wilson ๐ฆ๐บ
Men’s Heat 5 – 6.12am – Ferreira ๐ง๐ทย / Stairmand ๐ณ๐ฟ
Men’s Heat 6 – 6.48am – Ohhara ๐ฏ๐ตย / Tudela ๐ต๐ช
Men’s Heat 7 – 7.24am – Mesinas ๐ต๐ชย / Fioravanti ๐ฎ๐น
Men’s Heat 8 – 8.00am – Wright ๐ฆ๐บย / Flores ๐ซ๐ท
Quarter-Finals – Monday 26th July (11pm – 3.48am)
First competitor from each heat qualifies for the semi-finals, bottom qualifier is knocked out.
Men’s Heat 1 – 11.00pm – Igarashi ๐ฏ๐ตย / Andino ๐บ๐ธ
Men’s Heat 2 – 11.36pm – Bourez ๐ซ๐ทย / Medina ๐ง๐ท
Men’s Heat 3 – 12.12am – Ferreira ๐ง๐ทย / Ohhara ๐ฏ๐ต
Men’s Heat 4 – 12.48am – Mesinas ๐ต๐ชย / Wright ๐ฆ๐บ
Women’s Heat 1 – 1.24am – Buitendag ๐ฟ๐ฆย / Hopkins ๐ต๐น
Women’s Heat 2 – 2.00am – Hennessy ๐จ๐ทย / Marks ๐บ๐ธ
Women’s Heat 3 – 2.36am – Moore ๐บ๐ธย / Lima ๐ง๐ท
Women’s Heat 4 – 3.12am – Tsuzuki ๐ฏ๐ตย / Fitzgibbons ๐ฆ๐บ
Semi-Finals – Monday 26th July (3.48am – 6.12am)
First competitor from each heat qualifies for the gold medal match, bottom qualifier qualifies for the bronze medal match.
Men’s Heat 1 – 3.48am – Igarashi ๐ฏ๐ตย / Medina ๐ง๐ท
Men’s Heat 2 – 4.24 am – Ferreira ๐ง๐ทย / Wright ๐ฆ๐บ
Women’s Heat 1 – 5.00am – Buitendag ๐ฟ๐ฆย / Marks ๐บ๐ธ
Women’s Heat 2 – 5.36am – Moore ๐บ๐ธย / Tsuzuki ๐ฏ๐ต
Bronze Medal Match – Monday 26th July (6.16am – 7.46am)
Men’s Bronze Medal Match – 6.16am – Medina ๐ง๐ทย / Wright ๐ฆ๐บ
Women’s Bronze Medal Match – 7.01am – Marks ๐บ๐ธย / Tsuzuki ๐ฏ๐ต
Gold Medal Match – Monday 26th July (7.46am – 8.31am)
Men’s Gold Medal Match – 7.46am – Igarashi ๐ฏ๐ตย / Ferreira ๐ง๐ท
Women’s Gold Medal Match – 8.31am – Buitendag ๐ฟ๐ฆย / Moore ๐บ๐ธ
9. Competition Results
Here are the final results, the medallists for the first ever Men’s and Women’s surfing competition at the Olympics.
- Gold – Ferreira ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ท
- Silver – Igarashi ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ต
- Bronze – Wright ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐บ
10. How Can I Catch Up On The Event?
UK residents can still catch up on the events that unfolded during the Olympic surfing using Discovery+.
Discovery+ Free Trial
This is now the only method to rewatch the historic events tha unfolded on Tsurigasaki beach.
Occasionally Discovery+ offer free trials to new customers on their Entertainment & Sports package. This is the package that streamed the Olympic surfing coverage live and will store highlights and full replays for a whole year (until 8th August 2022) now the Olympics has finished.
Signing up follows a standard customer journey similar to all the other free trials out there. The key thing to remember is to cancel the subscription before the free trial ends if you don’t want to get charged.
Check out their ‘Discovery+ Entertainment Package – Free Trial’ page for more info.
11. Olympics Debate
Now, we canโt go this far without talking about the divide surfing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has caused within the wider surfing community.
On the one hand; surfing at the Olympics was viewed as a good thing. Exposing surfers at the top of their game showed the world how surfing has progressed. Some of the people in this camp would probably have no problem calling surfing a sport.
On the other hand,ย surfing to some is a pastime – it canโt and shouldnโt be bound by competitions, rules and regulations. For many surfers (including myself), surfing is an escape that helps us literally and metaphorically get away from it all. I’d say this community would have no problem calling surfing a hobby.
I didnโt start surfing because I followed a sport, I started surfing because it was fun and I enjoyed being in the sea. But, all that being said – I tuned in for a number of the heats during the event and found it super interesting. I think I still view surfing as a hobby and pastime but now have a greater appreciation for those doing it at the highest level.
Summary
So thatโs it guys, hopefully this post helped you through ‘Surfing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics’ and enjoyed its Olympic debut.
Let me know in the comments below if you watched any of the event yourself and what you thought of the whole thing. Also, feel free to vent your frustrations if you don’t think it should even be in the Olympics – be great to get both sides of the argument.
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