Overview

After several fierce years across World Surf League and International Surfing Association qualifying events, the Australian team was decided and would comprise of seven-time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore, perennial World Tour standout Sally Fitzgibbons, Pipeline Master Julian Wilson and Gold Pro Champion Owen Wright.

In early 2020, the Australian surfing team was dubbed The Irukandjis, after the Irukandji jellyfish – an extremely venomous species of jellyfish that inhabit Australian marine waters.

The competition will take place in the ocean, where the condition of the waves, the direction and strength of the wind, and the ebb and flow of the tide will all be factors. No two waves are alike, making surfing a competition where athletes compete against each other while balancing the changing conditions of nature.

The format

The first heats of Olympic Surfing competition are on schedule to start on 25 July at Tsurigasaki Beach in Chiba, Japan. History will be made as surfers represent their nations and pursue medals on the Olympic stage for the first time ever.

The length of a heat is normally 30 minutes and is decided by the Technical Director, depending on the conditions of the day. In this time, each athlete will be allowed to ride a maximum of 25 waves, and their two highest scoring waves will count towards their heat total, which creates their heat result.

The event format will play out as follows

Round 1
The first round is non-elimination. Surfers will be seeded into five heats of four surfers each, with the top two surfers advancing straight to Round 3. The bottom two surfers will be seeded into Round 2, the first elimination round.

Round 2
The second round will include two heats of five surfers each. The top three surfers of each heat will advance, while the bottom two surfers will be eliminated from the competition.

Round 3
Surfers will be seeded into eight heats of two surfers each. The surfer who places first moves through the bracket, while the surfer who places second is eliminated.

Round 4 (Quarterfinals)
Features four heats of two surfers. The top surfer of each heat advances. The surfer in second is eliminated.

Round 5 (Semifinals)
Two heats of two surfers. The top surfers go to the final. The bottom two surfers go to the Bronze Medal match.

Bronze Match
A two-person heat where the top surfer earns the Bronze Medal.

Gold Match
A two-person heat where the top surfer earns the Gold Medal and the second placing surfer earns the Silver Medal.

The Scoring

In the ocean, no two waves are ever the same, so each wave breaks differently offering a different scoring potential. A panel of five judges will score each ride based on the "Judging Criteria". The criteria reflect the definition of good surfing and are based upon the key elements of commitment and degree of difficulty, innovative and progressive manoeuvres, combinations of major manoeuvres, variety of manoeuvres, and speed, power and flow.

Rather than riding as many waves as possible or performing a large quantity of manoeuvres, the athletes will often be very selective to choose waves that offer the most critical sections available, attempting to perform the most quality manoeuvre.

The manoeuvres have no prescribed scores and accumulating points depends on the overall application of the criteria to each whole ride. The manoeuvres include aspects of power surfing reflected in variations of cutbacks, off the lips, and floaters and progressive surfing reflected in variations of aerials, slides, and reverses. Often the ultimate manoeuvre for surfers is the barrel where a surfer disappears and rides within the hollow part of the wave, but this is also scored according to several technical factors and based on quality.

When each wave is about to break, a 'peak' will often form at the steepest part of the wave. Athletes will often position themselves at the peak for entry into their chosen wave. When more than one athlete wants the same wave, the 'right of way' for each wave is determined by the athlete who is closest to the 'peak' of the wave or the athlete with the highest priority.

History

The art of riding waves on a board is said to date back to ancient Polynesians living in Hawaii and Tahiti. Surfing was popularised by Duke Kahanamoku, from Hawaii, who won three gold medals in swimming at the Stockholm 1912 and Antwerp 1920 Games when competing for the USA. Kahanamoku is considered 'the father of modern surfing' and planted the seed for surfing's future Olympic inclusion by expressing his dream to see the sport become an Olympic sport while accepting his medal on the podium at the 1912 Games.

Surfing as a sport is broadly divided according to the size and type of the board used. The longboard is around nine feet (2.7m) in length and more buoyant than the shortboard, which first appeared around 1970 and is approximately six feet (1.8m) in length. The shortboard has a pointed tip which aids turning, is quicker to manoeuvre and tends to be receptive to more dynamic techniques. Shortboards will be used at the Tokyo 2020 Games, where 20 men and 20 women will compete in separate competitions.

Surfing Snapshot