Surfing 2024 Olympic qualifying, who’s in, who’s out, and who has work to do
By Nicole Bosco
The qualifying process for surfing in the 2024 Summer Olympics in France has begun. Surfers from around the world are competing to make their country’s teams.
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games are just around the corner. Paris, France will be the host city for the Summer Olympic Games for the third time since 1900. Surfing as a sport will be included again this time around in the lineup of events. Surfing debuted as an Olympic sport in 2020 at the Tokyo Games and had an amazing reception among the fans. The Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024, although the qualification process has already begun.
Many of the world’s top surfers are a part of the World Surf League (WSL). Their success and ranking on the WSL leaderboard help to determine their qualification for the Olympic Games. Each nation will send four athletes to represent their country, two males and two females. The host country may get three and three. The competition for a spot is tough in many countries, but some athletes have already begun to qualify through this process.
Surfing Althetes that have already qualified for the 2024 Paris Games
Tatiana Weston-Webb will be representing her home country of Brazil. The 26-year-old is on a roll in the water. Currently, she is ranked sixth in the WSL 2023 rankings. After finishing fourth last year in the Rip Curl WSL Finals, Weston-Webb has been putting in the work this year to make it back to the finals. She recently placed third at the Surf Ranch Pro last month. Weston-Webb was on hand representing Brazil at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Brisa Hennessy will be representing Costa Rica in the 2024 Paris Games. Another Olympic veteran, Hennessy placed fifth in the 2020 Tokyo Games. After placing fifth in the 2022 Rip Curl WSL Finals, Hennessey has been off to a rough start in 2023. She is currently out of final qualifying and is sitting in 12th, however, she is still one of the highest-ranking female surfers for her country.
Johanne Defay will be one of four surfers representing the host country of France in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Defay grew up on Reunion Island, France. She is currently ranked 11th in the WSL rankings and has been granted a wild card spot for the remainder of the WSL Championship Tour.
Teresa Bonvalot will be a first-time Olympian in 2024 as she represents her home country of Portugal. The 23 years old grew up in Cascais, Portugal, and is quickly becoming known as the best female surfer from Portugal, ever.
Surfing Athletes who have not qualified for the 2024 Paris Games
Some of the biggest names in the sport may not get their ticket to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, maybe the most notable is Kelly Slater. For over thirty years Slater has been dominating the competitive surfing scene. He won his first WSL Championship in 1992 and has won it 11 times in total. Throughout his entire career, surfing was not offered as an Olympic Sport, that was until 2020. Slater failed to qualify for the 2020 Games by one spot. Now he finds himself sitting on the outside looking in once again.
Slater is currently sitting in the number 21 spot on the WSL rankings with three other Americans in front of him. There is still time for him to move up, but with Griffin Colapinto and John John Florence sitting at number one and seven respectfully, it would be a long shot. At 51 years old this might be Slater’s last chance to make a U.S. Olympic Team.
Surfing Athletes who could see their tickets punched soon
Right now there are a few surfers who could be very close to gaining a qualifying spot for their country. Stephanie Gilmore is currently the third-highest-ranked female surfer from Australia and could find herself back on the Olympic roster.
Things are tight on the men’s side for Brazil as Joao Chianca, Filipe Toledo, Gabriel Medina, Yago Dora, and Italo Ferreira are all close to the top. Ferreira won the gold medal for Brazil in 2020.
2020 gold medalist Carrisa Moore is in a great spot right now to quality yet again for Team USA as she currently leads all the women on the WSL CT.
Although the 2024 Olympic Games will take place in Paris and the surrounding area, the surfers will be traveling to the French Polynesian Island of Teahupo’o, Tahiti for their competition. These monster waves will be a challenge for many of these athletes and sets a completely different tone than the smaller waves on Tsurigasaki Beach, Chiba, Japan, the location for the 2020 Tokyo Games.