Surfing at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Italo Ferreira celebrates winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics
- Published
Surfing was first included in the Olympic programme at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Here's all you need to know about the sport at Paris 2024.
Where is the Olympic surfing taking place and what is the schedule?
Men and women compete in separate events, which are listed from 27 July to 4 August. The sport continues its Olympic journey almost 10,000 miles from Paris in Tahiti, French Polynesia, where surfing originated almost 1,000 years ago.
The medal events for both the men’s and women’s events are scheduled for 30 July but could take place as late as 4 August, depending on the weather.
- Published26 July
- Published7 May
Scoring and rules in surfing
Surfers go head-to-head in heats lasting 15-45 minutes as they try to progress through the rounds. An athlete might typically ride 10 to 12 waves in a heat; each manoeuvre they perform is marked out of 10 by judges, with their best two scoring waves counting.
The number of athletes in each event has increased from 20 to 24, meaning round one now consists of eight heats of three surfers instead of five heats of four. Round two, or the repechage, will now be a straight knockout, with eight heats of two surfers rather than two heats of five.