Anyone tuning in to watch the Olympic surfing, which begins on Saturday, will notice that the backdrop looks rather exotic for France; mountains covered in lush rainforest, waterfalls crashing down rocky cliffs, sparkling blue water. It looks like the land that time forgot; the kind of place where King Kong might get into a fight with a T-Rex.
That’s because Olympic surfing isn’t taking place in Biarritz, or Hossegor, or Lacanau, or any of France’s famous surf spots. It’s taking place in Tahiti in French Polynesia, nearly 10,000 miles from the epicentre of the Games in Paris.
The selection of Teahupo’o – which sets a record for the furthest competition from a host city in Olympic history – was, unsurprisingly, controversial. Locals and environmentalists alike condemned the construction of a $5m (£3.89m) aluminium judges’ tower on the local reef. There were concerns about the event’s carbon footprint, not to mention where everyone would be housed in a small village known locally as ‘The End of the Road’. Olympic organisers eventually hired a 126m cruise ship called Aranaui 5, which will house competitors and officials at sea in a floating athletes’ village.
It should be spectacular, though. “The first event in Tokyo did nothing to attract people to the sport,” says GB Surfing’s performance coach, Luke Dillon, who hopes Tahiti’s stunning backdrop and reliable waves, which have hosted a round of the championship tour for years, will be a boon to Tahiti and to surfing in general. “With the swell, the mountains and the backdrop, it’s going to look amazing. Teahupo’o is absolutely beautiful and has some of the best waves in the world.”
Sadly, there will be no British surfers on Teahupo’o’s barrels. Sky Brown, the Olympic bronze medallist skateboarder, narrowly missed out on qualifying for the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico earlier this year, missing one heat. The 16-year-old had hoped to compete in both sports at Paris 2024, and has been exploring with the BOA the possibility of hotfooting 10,000 miles from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the French capital midway through the Games. Reigning British men’s and women’s champions Stan Norman and Lauren Sandland also missed the cut.
That doesn’t mean the British surfing dream is over. “On the contrary, we’ve only just started,” says Vicky Gosling, chairman of GB Surfing, optimistically. “We expect to be competitive in Los Angeles in four years’ time. And against Brisbane [2032] “We expect to be on the podium.”
Gosling, who was parachuted in mid-cycle, hopes to apply similar methods to surfing as she has at GB Snowsport. GB Snowsport has achieved remarkable success during her time as CEO, despite operating on a (relatively) limited budget.
“The similarities are there,” she says. “It’s not that we don’t have the surfers. They just haven’t had the opportunity to spend as much time in the water. Or at least not in the places where you have to train if you want to compete with the best in the world.”
Gosling cites the example of Dillon, who recently retired, stressing that the 29-year-old from Newquay “would certainly be competing in Tahiti now if he had the support”. She points to youngsters such as 21-year-old Norman or 22-year-old Ellie Turner, both from Bude in Cornwall, as evidence that there is talent emerging in Britain.
“Ellie came fourth at the 2016 Under-16s ISA World Surf Games in Biarritz when she was just 14,” says Gosling. “That made her the first British surfer to win a medal at the ISA World Surf Games. And the winner of that final was Caroline Marks, who is currently the best female surfer in the world.”
There are more in the pipeline. Sixteen-year-old Lukas Skinner has won silver at the Under-16s World Surfing Games two years in a row. “What they need is the chance to show what they can do on a bigger stage,” says Gosling.
As ever, the money is too tight to mention. Surfing got £1.3m in funding for this cycle, but did nothing with it until Gosling arrived halfway through. With Dan Hunt, formerly of British Cycling, Team Sky, Premier League and GB Snowsport, they launched the GB Surfing Progression Squad in November last year, backing five young athletes including Norman, Turner and Skinner (but not Sky Brown, who does her own training in America).
Since then the team has had two training camps in Australia and three in Portugal, with one in the UK over two weeks. Over 100 days in total. During their time in Australia they had access to world-class coaches, including Andy King, who famously coached Mick Fanning to three world titles and now coaches Gabriel Medina, the three-time world champion and favourite for the men’s title in Teahupo’o. And access to JS Industries boards.
Unfortunately, it came too late for Teahupo’o, but Norman says he sees no reason why he shouldn’t qualify for Los Angeles. “We only had a month in Australia before Olympic qualifiers in February, and I’m maybe 20 places better than I’ve ever been in my career,” said Norman, who finished 31st, with a 22 percent point increase from the year before. “With another year of the best training, on the best boards, and being coached by the best people, I definitely expect to make a big jump.”
Britain optimistic about long-term prospects
The immediate aim for GB’s young cadre is to qualify from the European Regional Qualifiers (RQS) to the international Challenger Series. The first event is coming up at Boardmasters in Newquay in August, with four more events in August and September. Finish high in the RQS and you’ll make it to the Challenger Series. From there you’re just one step away from the WSL’s Championship Tour.
“Honestly, when I think about how we’ve wasted two years,” Gosling says. “But like I say, we’ve got the talent. And we’ve got guts. I mean, our guys literally do it in all weathers and all conditions. They’re as tough as you want them to be. I spoke to Sky’s dad in Puerto Rico, at the qualifying event, and he said it’s not really appealing to come to England to surf because she’d have to put on a wetsuit! And she’s not used to that!”
Brown is an interesting one. She was actually in Puerto Rico with the Japanese team and there was a fear that she would switch nationalities in an attempt to qualify for LA 2028, where the surfing competition will take place on her home golf course of Huntington Beach.
However, Gosling says Brown and her father Stuart came to breakfast with Team GB one morning in Puerto Rico and she got a good vibe. “She really wants to be a surfer for GB,” Gosling says. “She’s actually met the team. And she’s been a delight, actually. She’s put on the GB kit. It’s just a matter of money for us. I think she’d be proud to be part of it, having won a medal for Team GB.”
Funding is the constant concern. GB Surfing has just heard that it has been awarded another £1.3 million for the next cycle, only this time it will have to spread it over four years instead of two. Also, the athletes will not have access to APAs (athlete funding), which is an additional blow.
“The other countries laughed when I said we had £1.3 million and it was now spread over four years,” says Gosling. “They literally said ‘how many surfers have you got and what do you expect to do with them?’
“Of course we want more money, we want to hire permanent world-class coaches. But we will get there, with private support or sponsors. As we have seen with GB Snowsport, we can make this model work.
“Our foundations are improving. We’ve opened a new artificial wave centre in Edinburgh, with a surf lab, similar to The Wave in Bristol, which could become a performance centre. And we’re working on our Talent ID programme, where we’re co-funding coaching positions in the Channel Islands, Scotland, England and Wales, so there’s continuity.”
For now, the surfers of the UK will have to watch on television as the world’s best battle it out in Tahiti. It promises to be fierce in every way. Teahupo’o literally means “wall of skulls”, after a local legend that says a tribal war once ended with the victors displaying the skulls of their enemies. Not so far from King Kong’s Skull Island.
Norman will be watching intently, dreaming of L.A. in four years. “It’s going to be crazy,” he says. “There was a huge swell in Tahiti a week ago. The biggest swell they’ve seen in years. The waves in Tahiti can be 20 feet high, like really big, steep barrels, although I’ve heard recently that it’s much smaller, windy and not as great. It can all change in a couple of hours.”
Norman is backing Brazilian Medina to take gold in the men’s event. “We trained with his coach in Australia and he said he wants to retire, but he wants that gold medal first.” In the women’s event, his pick is American Carissa Moore. “She just retired from the WSL and she has nothing to lose. They’re my two favorites.” But he really just wants to be there himself.
“Surfing at the Olympics is amazing. I don’t know how many people watch the Olympics worldwide, but it must be crazy numbers. It’s exciting to think that I could be a part of it in the future.”
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