When surfing was added to the Olympics ahead of Tokyo 2020, many in the surf world expressed hesitation. Some even conveyed outright hostility. “Surfing in the Olympics will never work,” offered one observer. Other commentators felt similarly: “Surfing isn’t an Olympic sport for a reason.”
Some of these reservations were not unfounded. The sport’s reliance on the whims of mother nature make advance planning difficult; good waves and the major city infrastructure needed to host an Olympics rarely go together. There were fears of bad waves and subjective judging. The ultra-commercialised nature of the Games also jarred with the sport’s counter-cultural roots.
