Surfing at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place 27 July – 5 August 2024 in Teahupoʻo reef pass, Tahiti, French Polynesia, breaking the record for the farthest away a medal competition has been staged from the host city. A total of 48 surfers (24 for the men's and women's competitions each) competed in the shortboard events, eight more than in Tokyo 2020.
Venue
The surfing competition was staged in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, in the French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia in the southern Pacific. The decision was made to hold the surfing competition in the French territory instead of continental Europe because of the famous massive waves on the island suitable for the surfing competitions. Tahiti is from Paris, setting a new record for greatest physical distance of a medal event from the host city, a record that was last set in 1956 when the equestrian events of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, had to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, because Australia had strict quarantine rules for animals coming from overseas.
Participants in the surf competitions were the only ones not staying at the Paris Olympic Village on L'Île-Saint-Denis, and stayed instead on the ship M/V Aranui 5 anchored off Tahiti as the first floating Olympic village. The surfing competition was also the only event held without spectators.
Qualification
The qualification system for Paris 2024 built on the previous format used for Tokyo 2020, ensuring the participation of the world's best professional surfers, along with the vast promotion of geographical universal opportunities for surfers around the world at the Games. While the quota of two male and two female surfers per country remains intact, two exceptions to this rule have been introduced for the ISA World Surfing Games 2022 and 2024 team champions. These exceptions may increase the quota for some teams to three surfers.
Competition schedule
+ Revised schedule Event ↓ / Date → Sat 27 Sun 28 Mon 29 Tue 30 Wed 31 Thu 1 Fri 2 Sat 3 Sun 4 Mon 5 Men's shortboard R1 R2 R3 rowspan="2" colspan="2" ¼ rowspan="2" colspan="2" ½ F Women's shortboard R1 R2 R3 ¼
On 29July, the weather turned dangerous towards the end of round3 of the men's shortboard event, forcing the postponement of the women's third round. The waves continued to be too rough for competition over the next two days, leading to the last women's round and all finals being postponed. Surfing resumed on 1August. Competition was again called off on 3 and 4 August, with the semifinals and finals tentatively set for 5August.
Participating nations A total of 48 surfers from 21 nations qualified. Canada and Mexico made their Olympic debuts in the sport.
Host
Participating athletes Men's shortboard
Connor O'Leary Ethan Ewing Jack Robinson Filipe Toledo João Chianca Leonardo Fioravanti Kanoa Igarashi Matthew McGillivray Jordy Smith Griffin Colapinto John John Florence
Kauli Vaast Billy Stairmand Lucca Mesinas Alan Cleland Jr. Gabriel Medina Joan Duru
Rio Waida Ramzi Boukhiam Alonso Correa
Bryan Pérez
Women's shortboard
Caitlin Simmers Tyler Wright Molly Picklum Tatiana Weston-Webb Brisa Hennessy Johanne Defay Teresa Bonvalot Carissa Moore Caroline Marks Sarah Baum Shino Matsuda Vahiné Fierro Saffi Vette Sanoa Dempfle-Olin Luana Silva Tainá Hinckel Yang Siqi Camilla Kemp Anat Lelior Sol Aguirre Yolanda Sequeira Nadia Erostarbe Janire González Candelaria Resano
Medal summary Medal table
Medalists Men's shortboard Women's shortboard
See also Surfing at the 2020 Summer Olympics Surfing at the 2023 Pan American Games
References