Competitions in the sport of surfing, governed by the International Surfing Association (ISA), have been held at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games. First selected as one of the discretionary sports at the 2020 and 2024 games, surfing will be inducted as one of the mandatory sports at the 2028 games. Athletes compete in the discipline of shortboard surfing, which is the sole event in the sport at the Olympics. The United States have won the most gold medals (2), while Brazil have won the most medals overall (3).
| Surfing at the Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC Code | SRF |
| Governing body | ISA |
| Events | 2 (men: 1; women: 1) |
| Summer Olympics | |
Bid for inclusion
editIn September 2015, surfing was included in a shortlist along with baseball, softball, karate, skateboarding, and sport climbing to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[1] In June 2016, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that they would support the proposal to include all of the shortlisted sports in the 2020 Games.[2] Finally, on August 3, 2016, all five sports (counting baseball and softball together as one sport) were approved for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic program.[3]
One of the biggest obstacles to surfing being included in the Olympics for many years was a landlocked country hosting the games which would make surfing events difficult to stage, and another one was that drowning is one of the big risks in surfing, and the IOC was less likely to take high liabilities in the event of a death.[4]
Events
edit| Event | 20 | 24 | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's shortboard | X | X | 2 |
| Women's shortboard | X | X | 2 |
| Total | 2 | 2 |
Venues
editThe surfing competitions took place in the following locations:
| Edition | Place |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Tsurigasaki beach, Chiba |
| 2024 | Teahupo'o reef pass, Tahiti |
Medalists
editMen's shortboard
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Tokyo |
Ítalo Ferreira Brazil
|
Kanoa Igarashi Japan
|
Owen Wright Australia
|
| 2024 Paris |
Kauli Vaast France
|
Jack Robinson Australia
|
Gabriel Medina Brazil
|
Women's shortboard
edit
Medal table
editSources:[5]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States (USA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Brazil (BRA) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 |  France (FRA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 |  Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Japan (JPN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 |  South Africa (RSA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (6 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |
References
edit- ^ Mondy, Ben (2015-09-28). "Surfing and skateboarding make shortlist for 2020 Olympics". GrindTV.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
- ^ "IOC Executive Board supports Tokyo 2020 package of new sports for IOC Session - Olympic News". Olympic.org. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
- ^ "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". Olympics.org. International Olympic Committee. August 3, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
- ^ Pablo Zanocchi (3 August 2016). "It's Official: Surfing Will Be in the Olympics". Surfline.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
- ^ "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.